VulnerabilityPublished 5 Jan 2026

CVE-2025-52516: Untrusted Pointer Dereference

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.2 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.2Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 5 Jan 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

Monitor Samsung security advisories and update device firmware and kernel patches promptly once available to address CVE-2025-52516.
Implement strict mobile device management (MDM) policies to control app installations and restrict permissions, minimizing the risk of malicious apps triggering the vulnerability.
Educate users to avoid suspicious applications or camera-related software from untrusted sources that might exploit the issimian driver flaw.
Where feasible, temporarily disable or restrict camera usage on critical devices until patches are applied, especially in high-risk environments.
Employ network segmentation and endpoint security controls to limit exposure of vulnerable devices to untrusted networks or users.
Conduct regular device health monitoring to detect abnormal reboots or crashes indicative of exploitation attempts.
Coordinate with Samsung support channels for early access to patches or workarounds and integrate these into organizational patch management workflows.
For organizations with custom device configurations, consider kernel-level hardening or driver updates if available.
Maintain backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from potential service disruptions caused by exploitation.

Description

An issue was discovered in the Camera in Samsung Mobile Processor and Wearable Processor Exynos 1330, 1380, 1480, 2400, 1580, 2500. An invalid kernel address dereference in the issimian device driver leads to a denial of service.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-52516 is denial of service, which affects device availability by causing kernel crashes and forced reboots. For European organizations, this can disrupt mobile communications, especially for employees relying on Samsung smartphones and wearables for business-critical functions such as secure messaging, two-factor authentication, or remote work connectivity. In sectors like finance, healthcare, and government, device unavailability can lead to operational delays, loss of productivity, and potential security risks if devices reboot unexpectedly during sensitive operations. Additionally, repeated crashes could degrade device hardware or software integrity over time. Although no data confidentiality or integrity loss is indicated, the availability impact alone can have cascading effects on organizational workflows. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the ease of triggering a kernel crash without authentication means attackers with local access or malicious apps could exploit this vulnerability. The broad deployment of affected Exynos processors in Samsung devices across Europe increases the potential attack surface. Organizations with mobile device management (MDM) solutions may face challenges in quickly deploying mitigations until official patches are released.

CWE-822Untrusted Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The product obtains a value from an untrusted source, converts this value to a pointer, and dereferences the resulting pointer.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Pointer Manipulation (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 5 Jan 2026, 19:07 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-822

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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