In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethtool: netlink: Allow NULL nlattrs when getting a phy_device ethnl_req_get_phydev() is used to lookup a phy_device, in the case an ethtool netlink command targets a specific phydev within a netdev's topology. It takes as a parameter a const struct nlattr *header that's used for error handling : if (!phydev) { NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR(extack, header, "no phy matching phyindex"); return ERR_PTR(-ENODEV); } In the notify path after a ->set operation however, there's no request attributes available. The typical callsite for the above function looks like: phydev = ethnl_req_get_phydev(req_base, tb[ETHTOOL_A_XXX_HEADER], info->extack); So, when tb is NULL (such as in the ethnl notify path), we have a nice crash. It turns out that there's only the PLCA command that is in that case, as the other phydev-specific commands don't have a notification. This commit fixes the crash by passing the cmd index and the nlattr array separately, allowing NULL-checking it directly inside the helper.
History

Fri, 23 May 2025 02:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-476

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 14:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Low


Tue, 01 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethtool: netlink: Allow NULL nlattrs when getting a phy_device ethnl_req_get_phydev() is used to lookup a phy_device, in the case an ethtool netlink command targets a specific phydev within a netdev's topology. It takes as a parameter a const struct nlattr *header that's used for error handling : if (!phydev) { NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR(extack, header, "no phy matching phyindex"); return ERR_PTR(-ENODEV); } In the notify path after a ->set operation however, there's no request attributes available. The typical callsite for the above function looks like: phydev = ethnl_req_get_phydev(req_base, tb[ETHTOOL_A_XXX_HEADER], info->extack); So, when tb is NULL (such as in the ethnl notify path), we have a nice crash. It turns out that there's only the PLCA command that is in that case, as the other phydev-specific commands don't have a notification. This commit fixes the crash by passing the cmd index and the nlattr array separately, allowing NULL-checking it directly inside the helper.
Title net: ethtool: netlink: Allow NULL nlattrs when getting a phy_device
References

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published: 2025-04-01T15:40:55.110Z

Updated: 2025-05-04T07:24:36.169Z

Reserved: 2024-12-29T08:45:45.788Z

Link: CVE-2025-21921

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2025-04-01T16:15:22.790

Modified: 2025-04-01T20:26:01.990

Link: CVE-2025-21921

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Low

Publid Date: 2025-04-01T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2025-21921 - Bugzilla