---
id: CVE-2026-98563
title: >-
  kernel: net: phylink: record the PHY only once bringup cannot fail
  (CVE-2026-98563)
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's phylink component. When an error occurs
  during Ethernet physical layer (PHY) device initialization, the kernel
  prematurely stores a reference to the device before setup finishes. If the
  bringup operat…
severity: medium
cvss: 4.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: vendor
cwe: CWE-825
vendor: Red Hat
product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
affected:
  - enterprise_linux 10
  - enterprise_linux 9
  - openshift_container_platform 4
published: '2026-10-18'
updated: '2026-10-20'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-20T02:31:22+00:00'
source: CSAF
sourceUrl: 'https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98563.json'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98563.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98563'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2555015'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98563'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98563'
  - url: >-
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98563.mbox
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e7a4af364c2048bafb213bf0ef4a89dcbe1bfd4'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/671a68654a9d319d7f0d53a6321db3d9b391bdef'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a940003f44e7e441c228151dd212642152700ec8'
tags:
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00198
epssPercentile: 0.09493
ingestedAt: '2026-10-18T15:45:12.260Z'
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's phylink component. When an error occurs during Ethernet physical layer (PHY) device initialization, the kernel prematurely stores a reference to the device before setup finishes. If the bringup operation fails, the device is detached and freed, but the kernel retains a stale pointer. A local user with administrative privileges or network hardware events triggering connection retries can cause the kernel to access this freed memory, leading to memory corruption or a Denial of Service (DoS) via a system crash.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · updated 2026-10-20 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98563.json)

**kernel: net: phylink: record the PHY only once bringup cannot fail** — rated Moderate by Red Hat. Released 2026-10-18, updated 2026-10-20.

Affected:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

No fix planned:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

Not affected:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

## Remediation

Fix deferred