CVE-2025-37945

Published May 20, 2025

Last updated 9 days ago

Overview

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: phy: allow MDIO bus PM ops to start/stop state machine for phylink-controlled PHY DSA has 2 kinds of drivers: 1. Those who call dsa_switch_suspend() and dsa_switch_resume() from their device PM ops: qca8k-8xxx, bcm_sf2, microchip ksz 2. Those who don't: all others. The above methods should be optional. For type 1, dsa_switch_suspend() calls dsa_user_suspend() -> phylink_stop(), and dsa_switch_resume() calls dsa_user_resume() -> phylink_start(). These seem good candidates for setting mac_managed_pm = true because that is essentially its definition [1], but that does not seem to be the biggest problem for now, and is not what this change focuses on. Talking strictly about the 2nd category of DSA drivers here (which do not have MAC managed PM, meaning that for their attached PHYs, mdio_bus_phy_suspend() and mdio_bus_phy_resume() should run in full), I have noticed that the following warning from mdio_bus_phy_resume() is triggered: WARN_ON(phydev->state != PHY_HALTED && phydev->state != PHY_READY && phydev->state != PHY_UP); because the PHY state machine is running. It's running as a result of a previous dsa_user_open() -> ... -> phylink_start() -> phy_start() having been initiated by the user. The previous mdio_bus_phy_suspend() was supposed to have called phy_stop_machine(), but it didn't. So this is why the PHY is in state PHY_NOLINK by the time mdio_bus_phy_resume() runs. mdio_bus_phy_suspend() did not call phy_stop_machine() because for phylink, the phydev->adjust_link function pointer is NULL. This seems a technicality introduced by commit fddd91016d16 ("phylib: fix PAL state machine restart on resume"). That commit was written before phylink existed, and was intended to avoid crashing with consumer drivers which don't use the PHY state machine - phylink always does, when using a PHY. But phylink itself has historically not been developed with suspend/resume in mind, and apparently not tested too much in that scenario, allowing this bug to exist unnoticed for so long. Plus, prior to the WARN_ON(), it would have likely been invisible. This issue is not in fact restricted to type 2 DSA drivers (according to the above ad-hoc classification), but can be extrapolated to any MAC driver with phylink and MDIO-bus-managed PHY PM ops. DSA is just where the issue was reported. Assuming mac_managed_pm is set correctly, a quick search indicates the following other drivers might be affected: $ grep -Zlr PHYLINK_NETDEV drivers/ | xargs -0 grep -L mac_managed_pm drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/ag71xx.c drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/sparx5/sparx5_main.c drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan966x/lan966x_main.c drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-mac.c drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/fs_enet/fs_enet-main.c drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa/dpaa_eth.c drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/ucc_geth.c drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/enetc_pf_common.c drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/mvpp2/mvpp2_main.c drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/mvneta.c drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/prestera/prestera_main.c drivers/net/ethernet/mediatek/mtk_eth_soc.c drivers/net/ethernet/altera/altera_tse_main.c drivers/net/ethernet/wangxun/txgbe/txgbe_phy.c drivers/net/ethernet/meta/fbnic/fbnic_phylink.c drivers/net/ethernet/tehuti/tn40_phy.c drivers/net/ethernet/mscc/ocelot_net.c Make the existing conditions dependent on the PHY device having a phydev->phy_link_change() implementation equal to the default phy_link_change() provided by phylib. Otherwise, we implicitly know that the phydev has the phylink-provided phylink_phy_change() callback, and when phylink is used, the PHY state machine always needs to be stopped/ started on the suspend/resume path. The code is structured as such that if phydev->phy_link_change() is absent, it is a matter of time until the kernel will crash - no need to further complicate the test. Thus, for the situation where the PM is not managed b ---truncated---
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD status
Modified
Products
linux_kernel

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
5.5
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
1.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity
MEDIUM

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
CWE-476

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations

  1. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup: Avoid iteration of dying tasks with zero refcount The commit 260fbcb92bbea ("cgroup: Move dying_tasks cleanup from cgroup_task_release() to cgroup_task_free()") extended the lifetime of tasks on the dying_tasks list. The iterators have provision to go through dying_tasks because of dying threadgroup leaders or explicit CSS_TASK_ITER_WITH_DEAD, however, it was expected that such tasks can obtain a new reference (that is possible before cgroup_task_release()/put_task_struct_rcu_user()). The tasks after cgroup_task_release() and before cgroup_task_free() are subject to race when they may or may not have ->usage count > 0. The race window is between css_task_iter_next() invocations when css_set_lock is released and we may arrive at a new ->task_pos. The iterator should not attempt to resurrect tasks whose ->usage count dropped to zero. (When that happens, __put_task_struct_rcu_cb() is already imminent and the returned task_struct would could be used after free.) As for the fix, we cannot simply check the signal->live count of a task on the dying list because that won't distinguish regular zombies waiting to be reaped from RCU remnant tasks that are going to be free'd. Therefore add an extra check to rule out ->usage==0 tasks from any iteration. The repeat: loop in css_task_iter_advance() doesn't consider ->usage count, so add a new loop to css_task_iter_next() to skip de-used tasks on the dying_list. Rough illustration of the possible race R (reader of cgroup.procs) T (thread) L (group leader) --------------------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------------------- L exits, signal->live > 0 cgroup_task_dead(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // skips only cset->tasks list_add_tail(&L->cg_list, &cset->dying_tasks) css_task_iter_next() take css_set_lock css_task_iter_advance() leader && signal->live != 0 => it->task_pos = &L->cg_list release css_set_lock T exits --signal->live == 0 cgroup_task_dead(T) // css_set_lock release_task(T) cgroup_task_release(T) release_task(L) // zap_leader cgroup_task_release(L) put_task_struct_rcu_user(L) ...RCU... put_task_struct(L) L->usage = 0 /* L still on dying_tasks */ ...RCU... __put_task_struct(L) css_task_iter_next() // another iteration take css_set_lock it->task_pos = &L->cg_list get_task_struct(L) => addition on 0 drop css_set_lock cgroup_task_free(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // dying skip comes too late free_task(L) cgroup_procs_show() task_pid_vnr(L)•CVE-2026-98163