CVE-2026-64228: net: ethtool: phy: avoid NULL deref when PHY driver is unbound

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-07-24 · updated 2026-08-13
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethtool: phy: avoid NULL deref when PHY driver is unbound phydev->drv can become NULL while the phy_device is still attached to its net_device, namely after the PHY driver is unbound via sysfs: echo <mdio_id> > /sys/bus/mdio_bus/drivers/<phy_drv>/unbind phy_remove() clears phydev->drv but doesn't call phy_detach(), so the phy_device stays in the link topology xarray and ethnl_req_get_phydev() still hands it back. ETHTOOL_MSG_PHY_GET then oopses on: rep_data->drvname = kstrdup(phydev->drv->name, GFP_KERNEL); drvname is already treated as optional by phy_reply_size(), phy_fill_reply() and phy_cleanup_data(), so just skip the allocation when there is no driver bound.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.16 before 6.18.34; from 6.19 before 7.0.11; 7.1-rc1, 7.1-rc2, 7.1-rc3 — fixed in 6.18.34, 7.0.11

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.18.34, 7.0.11. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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