CVE-2025-40120 | net: usb: asix: hold PM usage ref to avoid PM/MDIO + RTNL deadlock

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: usb: asix: hold PM usage ref to avoid PM/MDIO + RTNL deadlock Prevent USB runtime PM (autosuspend) for AX88772* in bind. usbnet enables runtime PM (autosuspend) by default, so disabling it via the usb_driver flag is ineffective. On AX88772B, autosuspend shows no measurable power saving with current driver (no link partner, admin up/down). The ~0.453 W -> ~0.248 W drop on v6.1 comes from phylib powering the PHY off on admin-down, not from USB autosuspend. The real hazard is that with runtime PM enabled, ndo_open() (under RTNL) may synchronously trigger autoresume (usb_autopm_get_interface()) into asix_resume() while the USB PM lock is held. Resume paths then invoke phylink/phylib and MDIO, which also expect RTNL, leading to possible deadlocks or PM lock vs MDIO wake issues. To avoid this, keep the device runtime-PM active by taking a usage reference in ax88772_bind() and dropping it in unbind(). A non-zero PM usage count blocks runtime suspend regardless of userspace policy (.../power/control - pm_runtime_allow/forbid), making this approach robust against sysfs overrides. Holding a runtime-PM usage ref does not affect system-wide suspend; system sleep/resume callbacks continue to run as before.

Published: 2025-11-12 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-40120 is rated Low Risk (18.2/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-40120

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-22 0.04% 0.06% +0.01%
2 2026-04-10 0.06% 0.04% -0.01%
3 2025-11-26 0.06%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-40120

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-40120

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-40120

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-40120 unimportant priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-40120
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-40120
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-40120/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-40120 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 177, released 158, not-affected 49, needed 8, pending 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-40120

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-40120

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-40120

cvelogic Threat Intelligence