Linux kernel: Avoid SFP deadlock in genphy PHY probing (CVE-2026-53231)
CVE-2026-53231 Published on June 25, 2026
net: phy: don't try to setup PHY-driven SFP cages when using genphy
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: phy: don't try to setup PHY-driven SFP cages when using genphy
We don't have support for PHY-driver SFP cages with the genphy code.
On top of that, it was found by sashiko that running
sfp_bus_add_upstream() for genphy deadlocks, as for genphy the PHY
probing runs under RTNL, which isn't the case for non-genphy drivers.
This problem was reproduced, and does lead to a deadlock on RTNL.
Before the blamed commit, the phy_sfp_probe() call was made by
individual PHY drivers, so there was no way to get to the SFP probing
path when using genphy.
Let's therefore only run phy_sfp_probe when not using genphy.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-53231
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Affected Versions
Linux:- Version bad869b5e41a08424ff130fd6bb41b854be70095 and below ef8d739eee6f85303cbecebc01eb72f063de74e0 is affected.
- Version bad869b5e41a08424ff130fd6bb41b854be70095 and below 5a0082ec20a05ef2378410323a5089a8f1786f4a is affected.
- Version 7.0 is affected.
- Before 7.0 is unaffected.
- Version 7.0.13, <= 7.0.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.1, <= * is unaffected.