---
id: CVE-2025-38537
title: 'net: phy: Don''t register LEDs for genphy'
summary: |-
  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" s…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 <
    ec158d05eaa91b2809cab65f8068290e3c05ebdd
  - >-
    Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 <
    fd6493533af9e5d73d0d42ff2a8ded978a701dc6
  - >-
    Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 <
    75e1b2079ef0653a2f7aa69be515d86b7faf1908
  - >-
    Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 <
    f0f2b992d8185a0366be951685e08643aae17d6d
  - Linux 6.4
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T21:03:25.479289Z'
published: '2025-08-16'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T21:12:45.990Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38537'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec158d05eaa91b2809cab65f8068290e3c05ebdd'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd6493533af9e5d73d0d42ff2a8ded978a701dc6'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75e1b2079ef0653a2f7aa69be515d86b7faf1908'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f0f2b992d8185a0366be951685e08643aae17d6d'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00164
epssPercentile: 0.05592
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T22:38:31.988Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Affected

- `Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 < ec158d05eaa91b2809cab65f8068290e3c05ebdd`
- `Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 < fd6493533af9e5d73d0d42ff2a8ded978a701dc6`
- `Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 < 75e1b2079ef0653a2f7aa69be515d86b7faf1908`
- `Linux >= 01e5b728e9e43ae444e0369695a5f72209906464 < f0f2b992d8185a0366be951685e08643aae17d6d`
- `Linux 6.4`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.