Highly exploitable, CVE-2025-40165 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.
Status: Deferred
Last updated: 🕕 30 Jul 2026, 06:24 UTC
Originally published on: 🕚 12 Nov 2025, 11:15 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 259 days
CVSS Release: version 3
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVE-2025-40165: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: nxp: imx8-isi: m2m: Fix streaming cleanup on release If streamon/streamoff calls are imbalanced, such as when exiting an application with Ctrl+C when streaming, the m2m usage_count will never reach zero and the ISI channel won't be freed. Besides from that, if the input line width is more than 2K, it will trigger a WARN_ON(): [ 59.222120] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 59.226758] WARNING: drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx8-isi/imx8-isi-hw.c:631 at mxc_isi_channel_chain+0xa4/0x120, CPU#4: v4l2-ctl/654 [ 59.238569] Modules linked in: ap1302 [ 59.242231] CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 654 Comm: v4l2-ctl Not tainted 6.16.0-rc4-next-20250704-06511-gff0e002d480a-dirty #258 PREEMPT [ 59.253597] Hardware name: NXP i.MX95 15X15 board (DT) [ 59.258720] pstate: 80400009 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 59.265669] pc : mxc_isi_channel_chain+0xa4/0x120 [ 59.270358] lr : mxc_isi_channel_chain+0x44/0x120 [ 59.275047] sp : ffff8000848c3b40 [ 59.278348] x29: ffff8000848c3b40 x28: ffff0000859b4c98 x27: ffff800081939f00 [ 59.285472] x26: 000000000000000a x25: ffff0000859b4cb8 x24: 0000000000000001 [ 59.292597] x23: ffff0000816f4760 x22: ffff0000816f4258 x21: ffff000084ceb780 [ 59.299720] x20: ffff000084342ff8 x19: ffff000084340000 x18: 0000000000000000 [ 59.306845] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000ffffdb369e1c [ 59.313969] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000 [ 59.321093] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : 0000000000000000 [ 59.328217] x8 : ffff8000848c3d48 x7 : ffff800081930b30 x6 : ffff800081930b30 [ 59.335340] x5 : ffff0000859b6000 x4 : ffff80008193ae80 x3 : ffff800081022420 [ 59.342464] x2 : ffff0000852f6900 x1 : 0000000000000001 x0 : ffff000084341000 [ 59.349590] Call trace: [ 59.352025] mxc_isi_channel_chain+0xa4/0x120 (P) [ 59.356722] mxc_isi_m2m_streamon+0x160/0x20c [ 59.361072] v4l_streamon+0x24/0x30 [ 59.364556] __video_do_ioctl+0x40c/0x4a0 [ 59.368560] video_usercopy+0x2bc/0x690 [ 59.372382] video_ioctl2+0x18/0x24 [ 59.375857] v4l2_ioctl+0x40/0x60 [ 59.379168] __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xac/0x104 [ 59.383172] invoke_syscall+0x48/0x104 [ 59.386916] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xc0/0xe0 [ 59.391613] do_el0_svc+0x1c/0x28 [ 59.394915] el0_svc+0x34/0xf4 [ 59.397966] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa0/0xe4 [ 59.402143] el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c [ 59.405801] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Address this issue by moving the streaming preparation and cleanup to the vb2 .prepare_streaming() and .unprepare_streaming() operations. This also simplifies the driver by allowing direct usage of the v4l2_m2m_ioctl_streamon() and v4l2_m2m_ioctl_streamoff() helpers.
The exploitability of CVE-2025-40165 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
CVE-2025-40165 presents an accessible attack vector with minimal effort required. Restricting access controls and implementing security updates are critical to reducing exploitation risks.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-40165, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-40165, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
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