Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2026-53231
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn 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.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisShared resources are accessed without correct locking, so concurrent operations interleave into inconsistent — and sometimes exploitable — states, or deadlock the service outright. These bugs are subtle and timing-dependent. The fix is correct, consistent locking or atomic operations around every shared resource.
General guidance for the improper locking class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 7.0, < 7.0.13= 7.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped7.0.13
Linux kernel >= 7.0.13 or >= 7.2
- Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
- If running kernel version 7.0.x where x < 13, or exactly 7.1, plan for an upgrade
- Upgrade to Linux kernel version 7.0.13 or later, or version 7.2 or later to receive the fix
- For distributions using the stable kernel tree, apply vendor-provided kernel updates that include commit 5a0082ec20a05ef2378410323a5089a8f1786f4a
- After upgrade, verify the fix is present by checking that genphy no longer calls phy_sfp_probe() - this can be confirmed by reviewing the net/phy/phy_device.c code
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-53231 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-53231 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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