---
id: CVE-2025-38111
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  net/mdiobus: Fix potential out-of-bounds read/write access

  When using publicly available tools like 'mdio-tools' to read/write data
  from/to network interface and its P…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  net/mdiobus: Fix potential out-of-bounds read/write access

  When using publicly available tools like 'mdio-tools' to read/write data
  from/to network interface and its P…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-125
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.6, < 5.10.239'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.186'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.142'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.94'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.34'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.3'
  - linux_kernel = 6.16
  - debian_linux = 11.0
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.15.3
published: '2025-07-03'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T22:18:27.793'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38111'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/014ad9210373d2104f6ef10e6bb999a7a0a4c50e'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/049af7ac45a6b407748ee0995278fd861e36df8f'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e629694126ca388916f059453a1c36adde219c4'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/19c5875e26c4ed5686d82a7d8f7051385461b9eb'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73d478234a619f3476028cb02dee699c30ae8262'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b02d9d2732483e670bc34cb233d28e1d43b15da4'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bab6bca0834cbb5be2a7cfe59ec6ad016ec72608'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00222
epssPercentile: 0.12706
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-15T21:47:33.790352Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T05:52:46.097Z'
---

## Overview

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

net/mdiobus: Fix potential out-of-bounds read/write access

When using publicly available tools like 'mdio-tools' to read/write data
from/to network interface and its PHY via mdiobus, there is no verification of
parameters passed to the ioctl and it accepts any mdio address.
Currently there is support for 32 addresses in kernel via PHY_MAX_ADDR define,
but it is possible to pass higher value than that via ioctl.
While read/write operation should generally fail in this case,
mdiobus provides stats array, where wrong address may allow out-of-bounds
read/write.

Fix that by adding address verification before read/write operation.
While this excludes this access from any statistics, it improves security of
read/write operation.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 5.6, < 5.10.239`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.186`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.142`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.94`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.34`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.3`
- `linux_kernel = 6.16`
- `debian_linux = 11.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.15.3`