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CVE-2025-38537 Not scored

net: phy: Don't register LEDs for genphy

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.

Exploit probability 0.1%
Published August 16, 2025
Required by Not available
Last source change July 15, 2026

02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE

Affected packages

Linux Kernel
Unknown Unknown

03 / CONNECTIONS

Connected vulnerabilities

related OPENSUSE-SU-2026:20287-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:03272-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:03290-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:03301-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:03382-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:03602-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:03633-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:03634-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:20653-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:20669-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:20739-1
related SUSE-SU-2025:20756-1
related SUSE-SU-2026:20555-1
related SUSE-SU-2026:20599-1
related SUSE-SU-2026:20615-1

04 / EVIDENCE

Source records

Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2025-38537

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.

View original source

05 / REFERENCES

Further evidence