CVE-2025-52516: Samsung Exynos 1330 Firmware DOS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-52516 Overview

CVE-2025-52516 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Camera subsystem of Samsung Mobile and Wearable Exynos processors. The flaw resides in the issimian device driver, where an invalid kernel address dereference can be triggered locally. Successful exploitation crashes the kernel and causes a device-wide denial of service. The issue is classified as [CWE-822: Untrusted Pointer Dereference] and affects multiple Exynos SoC generations used in Samsung smartphones and wearables.

Critical Impact

A local attacker with access to the camera driver interface can trigger a kernel crash, resulting in a high-impact denial of service on affected Exynos-based devices.

Affected Products

• Samsung Exynos 1330 and 1380 mobile processors
• Samsung Exynos 1480, 1580, 2400, and 2500 mobile processors
• Associated firmware images for the above Exynos SoCs

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-01-05 - CVE-2025-52516 published to NVD
• 2026-01-09 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-52516

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability exists in the issimian camera device driver shipped with Samsung Exynos mobile and wearable processor firmware. The driver dereferences a kernel-space pointer that has not been validated against legal kernel address ranges. When a local actor invokes the affected driver path with crafted input, the kernel attempts to read from or write to an invalid address. This triggers a kernel oops or panic, terminating camera services and rendering the device unresponsive until reboot.

The issue is local-only and does not affect data confidentiality or integrity. Availability impact is high because the kernel fault propagates to the broader system. The vulnerability is tracked under [CWE-822: Untrusted Pointer Dereference], where the attacker influences a pointer value that the kernel later dereferences without bounds checks.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing validation of a pointer value handled by the issimian driver before dereference. User-controlled or attacker-influenced input reaches a kernel code path that assumes the pointer references a valid in-kernel object. Without an address-range check or structure validation, the driver dereferences an invalid kernel address and faults.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local access to the device and the ability to interact with the camera driver interface, typically via ioctl calls or device node operations exposed by the issimian driver. No authentication or user interaction is required beyond having a process able to open the driver. Refer to the Samsung CVE-2025-52516 Details advisory for vendor-specific technical context.

No public proof-of-concept or exploit code is available. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-52516

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected kernel panics or oops messages referencing the issimian driver in dmesg or device crash logs.
• Repeated camera service crashes or restarts of camera-related processes on Exynos-based devices.
• Abnormal access patterns to camera device nodes by non-camera applications.

Detection Strategies

• Collect mobile device kernel crash reports and triage entries that include issimian or camera driver stack frames.
• Monitor mobile device management (MDM) telemetry for elevated rates of unplanned reboots on Exynos models.
• Inspect installed application behavior for unexpected access to camera-related ioctl interfaces.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward mobile crash and reliability telemetry into a centralized analytics or SIEM platform for correlation.
• Track Samsung security bulletins for firmware updates addressing CVE-2025-52516 across the affected Exynos product line.
• Establish alerting thresholds for repeated camera subsystem crashes on a per-device and per-fleet basis.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-52516

Immediate Actions Required

• Apply Samsung firmware updates for the affected Exynos SoCs as soon as device vendors publish them.
• Inventory Exynos 1330, 1380, 1480, 1580, 2400, and 2500 devices in the fleet and prioritize patch deployment.
• Restrict installation of untrusted third-party applications that could abuse local camera driver interfaces.

Patch Information

Samsung has acknowledged the vulnerability via its semiconductor product security update process. Refer to the Samsung Security Updates Overview and the Samsung CVE-2025-52516 Details page for firmware availability and integration guidance for device OEMs.

Workarounds

• Limit device access to trusted users and avoid sideloading applications from unverified sources.
• Enforce mobile application allowlisting through MDM policies on managed Exynos-based devices.
• Monitor for and automatically remediate repeated camera-subsystem crashes through device health policies until firmware patches are deployed.