Null Pointer Dereference in Linux Kernel Media Driver Affecting Tuner Functionality

CVE-2025-38693

What is CVE-2025-38693?

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel exposes a null pointer dereference issue within the media driver for DVB frontends, specifically concerning the w7090p tuner. When user-controlled input leads to a scenario where the buffer in the message structure is null and the length is zero, this can permit the execution of unsafe memory access. As a result, invoking the function to read or write to the tuner can lead to a system crash due to the dereferencing of a null pointer. The vulnerability has been addressed by implementing additional sanity checks to ensure that input validation is strictly enforced.

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