# CVE-2025-38149: net: phy: clear phydev->devlink when the link is deleted

Status: published. Published: 2025-07-03. Updated: 2026-11-05.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: phy: clear phydev->devlink when the link is deleted

There is a potential crash issue when disabling and re-enabling the
network port. When disabling the network port, phy_detach() calls
device_link_del() to remove the device link, but it does not clear
phydev->devlink, so phydev->devlink is not a NULL pointer. Then the
network port is re-enabled, but if phy_attach_direct() fails before
calling device_link_add(), the code jumps to the "error" label and
calls phy_detach(). Since phydev->devlink retains the old value from
the previous attach/detach cycle, device_link_del() uses the old value,
which accesses a NULL pointer and causes a crash. The simplified crash
log is as follows.

[   24.702421] Call trace:
[   24.704856]  device_link_put_kref+0x20/0x120
[   24.709124]  device_link_del+0x30/0x48
[   24.712864]  phy_detach+0x24/0x168
[   24.716261]  phy_attach_direct+0x168/0x3a4
[   24.720352]  phylink_fwnode_phy_connect+0xc8/0x14c
[   24.725140]  phylink_of_phy_connect+0x1c/0x34

Therefore, phydev->devlink needs to be cleared when the device link is
deleted.

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- Linux / Linux: ≥ bc66fa87d4fda9053a8145e5718fc278c2b88253; < 363fdf2777423ad346d781f09548cca14877f729 (affected, git); ≥ bc66fa87d4fda9053a8145e5718fc278c2b88253; < ddc654e89ace723b78c34911c65243accbc9b75c (affected, git); ≥ bc66fa87d4fda9053a8145e5718fc278c2b88253; < 034bc4a2a72dea2cfcaf24c6bae03c38ad5a0b87 (affected, git); ≥ bc66fa87d4fda9053a8145e5718fc278c2b88253; < 0795b05a59b1371b18ffbf09d385296b12e9f5d5 (affected, git). Source: CNA: Linux
- Linux / Linux: 6.2 (affected); ≥ 0; < 6.2 (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.6.94; ≤ 6.6.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.12.34; ≤ 6.12.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.15.3; ≤ 6.15.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.16; ≤ * (unaffected, original_commit_for_fix). Source: CNA: Linux

## Severity and prioritization

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.18% as of 2026-11-05; percentile 7.30%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: Not reported

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/363fdf2777423ad346d781f09548cca14877f729 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ddc654e89ace723b78c34911c65243accbc9b75c (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/034bc4a2a72dea2cfcaf24c6bae03c38ad5a0b87 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0795b05a59b1371b18ffbf09d385296b12e9f5d5 (CNA: Linux)

## Provenance

- CNA: Linux: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38149; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated 2026-11-05

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2025-38149; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated Not reported

Revision: ae3394d0c73871e141500c3355539849c9ae92ced6bb035d225a0da306c8af2b

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2025-38149

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