# CVE-2025-38173: crypto: marvell/cesa - Handle zero-length skcipher requests

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service by triggering a zero-length skcipher request in the Marvell CESA crypto driver, leading to random memory access.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64520, BELL-CVE-2025-38173, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38173, GHSA-p2cx-8cg7-m2r4, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38173, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38173, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38173, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38173, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38173

## What is CVE-2025-38173?

CVE-2025-38173 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

crypto: marvell/cesa - Handle zero-length skcipher requests

Do not access random memory for zero-length skcipher requests.
Just return 0.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38173?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38173?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38173 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38173 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
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- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38173 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38173 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38173 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38173/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38173/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38173
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38173
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38173

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38173/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.