CVE-2025-38537

MEDIUM

Linux Kernel 6.4-6.6.99, 6.7-6.12.39, 6.13-6.15.7 - Deadlock via LED Registration in Generic PHY Driver

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: phy: Don't register LEDs for genphy If a PHY has no driver, the genphy driver is probed/removed directly in phy_attach/detach. If the PHY's ofnode has an "leds" subnode, then the LEDs will be (un)registered when probing/removing the genphy driver. This could occur if the leds are for a non-generic driver that isn't loaded for whatever reason. Synchronously removing the PHY device in phy_detach leads to the following deadlock: rtnl_lock() ndo_close() ... phy_detach() phy_remove() phy_leds_unregister() led_classdev_unregister() led_trigger_set() netdev_trigger_deactivate() unregister_netdevice_notifier() rtnl_lock() There is a corresponding deadlock on the open/register side of things (and that one is reported by lockdep), but it requires a race while this one is deterministic. Generic PHYs do not support LEDs anyway, so don't bother registering them.

Scores

CVSS v3 5.5
EPSS 0.0015
EPSS Percentile 4.3%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

Status published
Products (15)
linux/Kernel 6.13.0 - 6.15.8linux
linux/Kernel 6.4.0 - 6.6.100linux
linux/Kernel 6.7.0 - 6.12.40linux
Linux/Linux < 6.4
Linux/Linux 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 - 75e1b2079ef0653a2f7aa69be515d86b7faf1908
Linux/Linux 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 - ec158d05eaa91b2809cab65f8068290e3c05ebdd
Linux/Linux 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 - f0f2b992d8185a0366be951685e08643aae17d6d
Linux/Linux 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 - fd6493533af9e5d73d0d42ff2a8ded978a701dc6
Linux/Linux 6.12.40 - 6.12.*
Linux/Linux 6.15.8 - 6.15.*
... and 5 more
Published Aug 16, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026