Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-53231

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: phy: don't try to setup PHY-driven SFP cages when using genphy We don't have support for PHY-driver SFP cages with the genphy code. On top of that, it was found by sashiko that running sfp_bus_add_upstream() for genphy deadlocks, as for genphy the PHY probing runs under RTNL, which isn't the case for non-genphy drivers. This problem was reproduced, and does lead to a deadlock on RTNL. Before the blamed commit, the phy_sfp_probe() call was made by individual PHY drivers, so there was no way to get to the SFP probing path when using genphy. Let's therefore only run phy_sfp_probe when not using genphy.

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 (0.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 0th percentile — 0.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-53231: held from 0.001 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: -0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions bad869b5e41a08424ff130fd6bb41b854be70095, 7.0, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-53231?
CVE-2026-53231 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Improper Locking. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-06-25.
How severe is CVE-2026-53231?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.