CVE-2025-38537 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

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.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-12	0.02%	0.07%	+0.05%
2	2025-08-16	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-12

0.02%

0.07%

+0.05%

2025-08-16

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38537

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2025-38537 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38537
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38537
`suse`	medium	CVE-2025-38537 severity moderate: SUSE including 494 source package names (13.2-9.1:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, 2.1.3-6.35:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, …), 1105 product×package rows across 198 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (198 product lines)): Fixed 615, Known Not Affected 234, Known Affected 231, First Fixed 25.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38537/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-38537 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 161, released 133, not-affected 96, needed 3, needs-triage 2, pending 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38537

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38537

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.4, < 6.6.100	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.7, < 6.12.40	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.15.8	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc2::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc3::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc4::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc5::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc6::::::

References for CVE-2025-38537

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75e1b2079ef0653a2f7aa69be515d86b7faf1908	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec158d05eaa91b2809cab65f8068290e3c05ebdd	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f0f2b992d8185a0366be951685e08643aae17d6d	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd6493533af9e5d73d0d42ff2a8ded978a701dc6	Patch

URL

CVE-2025-38537 | net: phy: Don't register LEDs for genphy

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38537

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38537

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38537

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38537

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38537

References for CVE-2025-38537