CVE-2025-40208 media: iris: fix module removal if firmware download failed
A local attacker with high privileges can trigger a kernel warning and potential instability by unbinding the Qualcomm Iris video codec driver after a firmware load failure.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-40208?
CVE-2025-40208 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 12 Nov 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:
media: iris: fix module removal if firmware download failed
Fix remove if firmware failed to load: qcom-iris aa00000.video-codec: Direct firmware load for qcom/vpu/vpu33_p4.mbn failed with error -2 qcom-iris aa00000.video-codec: firmware download failed qcom-iris aa00000.video-codec: core init failed
then: $ echo aa00000.video-codec > /sys/bus/platform/drivers/qcom-iris/unbind
Triggers: genpd genpd:1:aa00000.video-codec: Runtime PM usage count underflow! ------------[ cut here ]------------ video_cc_mvs0_clk already disabled WARNING: drivers/clk/clk.c:1206 at clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac, CPU#1: sh/542 <snip> pc : clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac lr : clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac <snip> Call trace: clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac (P) clk_disable+0x30/0x4c iris_disable_unprepare_clock+0x20/0x48 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu_power_off_hw+0x48/0x58 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu33_power_off_hardware+0x44/0x230 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu_power_off+0x34/0x84 [qcom_iris] iris_core_deinit+0x44/0xc8 [qcom_iris] iris_remove+0x20/0x48 [qcom_iris] platform_remove+0x20/0x30 device_remove+0x4c/0x80 <snip> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- ------------[ cut here ]------------ video_cc_mvs0_clk already unprepared WARNING: drivers/clk/clk.c:1065 at clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110, CPU#2: sh/542 <snip> pc : clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110 lr : clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110 <snip> Call trace: clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110 (P) clk_unprepare+0x2c/0x44 iris_disable_unprepare_clock+0x28/0x48 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu_power_off_hw+0x48/0x58 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu33_power_off_hardware+0x44/0x230 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu_power_off+0x34/0x84 [qcom_iris] iris_core_deinit+0x44/0xc8 [qcom_iris] iris_remove+0x20/0x48 [qcom_iris] platform_remove+0x20/0x30 device_remove+0x4c/0x80 <snip> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- genpd genpd:0:aa00000.video-codec: Runtime PM usage count underflow! ------------[ cut here ]------------ gcc_video_axi0_clk already disabled WARNING: drivers/clk/clk.c:1206 at clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac, CPU#4: sh/542 <snip> pc : clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac lr : clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac <snip> Call trace: clk_core_disable+0xa4/0xac (P) clk_disable+0x30/0x4c iris_disable_unprepare_clock+0x20/0x48 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu33_power_off_controller+0x17c/0x428 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu_power_off+0x48/0x84 [qcom_iris] iris_core_deinit+0x44/0xc8 [qcom_iris] iris_remove+0x20/0x48 [qcom_iris] platform_remove+0x20/0x30 device_remove+0x4c/0x80 <snip> ------------[ cut here ]------------ gcc_video_axi0_clk already unprepared WARNING: drivers/clk/clk.c:1065 at clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110, CPU#4: sh/542 <snip> pc : clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110 lr : clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110 <snip> Call trace: clk_core_unprepare+0xf0/0x110 (P) clk_unprepare+0x2c/0x44 iris_disable_unprepare_clock+0x28/0x48 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu33_power_off_controller+0x17c/0x428 [qcom_iris] iris_vpu_power_off+0x48/0x84 [qcom_iris] iris_core_deinit+0x44/0xc8 [qcom_iris] iris_remove+0x20/0x48 [qcom_iris] platform_remove+0x20/0x30 device_remove+0x4c/0x80 <snip> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Skip deinit if initialization never succeeded.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40208?
How do I fix CVE-2025-40208?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2025-40208 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40208 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-40208, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40208, GHSA-x9g4-rmpr-m7cx, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-40208, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-40208, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40208.