Vulnerability in Linux
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.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.001 (3.5th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 3rd percentile — 3.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464, 6.4, 0
- Linux Kernel — versions 6.16
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-38537?
- CVE-2025-38537 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-08-16.
- How severe is CVE-2025-38537?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.