CVE-2025-37945 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2025-37945
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

Attack Complexity:
Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
Attack Vector:
Attack Vector Under Analysis
Privileges Required: None
No authentication is required for exploitation.
Scope:
Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
User Interaction: None
No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2025-37945 Details

Status: Awaiting Analysis

Last updated: 🕗 21 May 2025, 20:24 UTC
Originally published on: 🕓 20 May 2025, 16:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1 days

CVSS Release:

CVE-2025-37945 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2025-37945: 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---

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2025-37945

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2025-37945 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2025-37945

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2025-37945.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-37945, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-37945, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

Confidentiality: None
CVE-2025-37945 does not compromise confidentiality.
Integrity: None
CVE-2025-37945 does not impact data integrity.
Availability: None
CVE-2025-37945 does not affect system availability.

CVE-2025-37945 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

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