CVE-2025-38229 | media: cxusb: no longer judge rbuf when the write fails

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: cxusb: no longer judge rbuf when the write fails syzbot reported a uninit-value in cxusb_i2c_xfer. [1] Only when the write operation of usb_bulk_msg() in dvb_usb_generic_rw() succeeds and rlen is greater than 0, the read operation of usb_bulk_msg() will be executed to read rlen bytes of data from the dvb device into the rbuf. In this case, although rlen is 1, the write operation failed which resulted in the dvb read operation not being executed, and ultimately variable i was not initialized. [1] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in cxusb_gpio_tuner drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/cxusb.c:124 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in cxusb_i2c_xfer+0x153a/0x1a60 drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/cxusb.c:196 cxusb_gpio_tuner drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/cxusb.c:124 [inline] cxusb_i2c_xfer+0x153a/0x1a60 drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/cxusb.c:196 __i2c_transfer+0xe25/0x3150 drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c:-1 i2c_transfer+0x317/0x4a0 drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c:2315 i2c_transfer_buffer_flags+0x125/0x1e0 drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c:2343 i2c_master_send include/linux/i2c.h:109 [inline] i2cdev_write+0x210/0x280 drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c:183 do_loop_readv_writev fs/read_write.c:848 [inline] vfs_writev+0x963/0x14e0 fs/read_write.c:1057 do_writev+0x247/0x5c0 fs/read_write.c:1101 __do_sys_writev fs/read_write.c:1169 [inline] __se_sys_writev fs/read_write.c:1166 [inline] __x64_sys_writev+0x98/0xe0 fs/read_write.c:1166 x64_sys_call+0x2229/0x3c80 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:21 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x1e0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Published: 2025-07-04 Last update: 2025-12-18 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38229 is rated Low Risk (23.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38229

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.09% 0.15% +0.06%
2 2026-04-30 0.03% 0.09% +0.06%
3 2025-12-19 0.03%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38229

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38229

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38229

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38229 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38229
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38229
suse medium CVE-2025-38229 severity moderate: SUSE including 473 source package names (2.1.3-6.67:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-32.1.21.10, 2.1.3-7.44:kernel-default-6.4.0-32.1, …), 921 product×package rows across 182 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (182 product lines)): Fixed 627, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 23, First Fixed 21, Will Not Fix 19. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38229/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38229 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, released 170, ignored 168, needed 44, not-affected 21, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38229

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38229

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.14, < 5.4.296 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.239 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.186 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.142 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.95 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.35 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.13:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.13:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.13:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.13:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.13:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.13:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38229

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/04354c529c8246a38ae28f713fd6bfdc028113bc Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/390b864e3281802109dfe56e508396683e125653 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41807a5f67420464ac8ee7741504f6b5decb3b7c Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73fb3b92da84637e3817580fa205d48065924e15 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/77829a5f5a74026b888b0529628475b29750cef4 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/84eca597baa346f09b30accdaeca10ced3eeba2d Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b35b50b7e98d8e9a0a27257c8424448afae10de Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9bff888c92f5c25effbb876d22a793c2388c1ccc Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
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