{"id":"CVE-2026-98922","title":"net: emac: move setting of netops to fix crash","summary":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet: emac: move setting of netops to fix crash\n\nfixes the following crash on driver initialization:\n\n|BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000158\n|Faulti…","severity":"none","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","affected":["Linux >= ded86da4bbb78cad74cecc368fee3ae3a296e2ca < c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67","Linux >= ded86da4bbb78cad74cecc368fee3ae3a296e2ca < 7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d","Linux 7.2"],"published":"2026-10-23","updated":"2026-10-23","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-23T12:05:38.754Z","source":"CVEORG","sourceUrl":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98922","references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d"}],"tags":["cve.org"],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-23T13:24:55.568Z","slug":"CVE-2026-98922","body":"## Overview\n\nIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet: emac: move setting of netops to fix crash\n\nfixes the following crash on driver initialization:\n\n|BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000158\n|Faulting instruction address: 0xc0566b40\n|Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]\n|BE PAGE_SIZE=4K  PowerPC 44x Platform\n|Modules linked in:\n|CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: GW 7.3.0-rc3+ #1\n|Tainted: [W]=WARN\n|Hardware name: MyBook Live APM821XX 0x12c41c83 PowerPC 44x Platform\n|NIP:  c0566b40 LR: c05648f8 CTR: c04c1e9c\n|REGS: c1053a20 TRAP: 0300   Tainted: GW  (7.3.0-rc3+)\n|MSR:  0002b000 <CE,EE,FP,ME>  CR: 24008808  XER: 00000000\n|DEAR: 00000158 ESR: 00000000\n|GPR00: c05648f8 c1053b10 c1063600 c1030000 c5ab3000 00000000 [...]\n|GPR08: 00000002 00000000 00000000 c1053b40 84002808 00000000 [...]\n|GPR16: cfffd210 00000002 c0beafcc cfffc960 00000000 c1030644 [...]\n|GPR24: c0beafbc c1037000 00000000 0000000a 00000000 c1030000 [...]\n|NIP [c0566b40] phy_link_topo_add_phy+0x2c/0x1d0\n|LR [c05648f8] phy_attach_direct+0x1a4/0x368\n|Call Trace:\n|[c1053b10] [c0811e04] klist_put+0x54/0xb4 (unreliable)\n|[c1053b40] [c05648f8] phy_attach_direct+0x1a4/0x368\n|[c1053b70] [c0564ae8] phy_connect_direct+0x2c/0x60\n|[c1053b90] [c056c7a8] of_phy_connect+0x50/0x74\n|[c1053bc0] [c0572a88] emac_probe+0xd50/0x119c\n|[c1053c90] [c04cb770] platform_probe+0x74/0xa4\n|[c1053cb0] [c04c8f08] really_probe+0x120/0x2b0\n|[c1053cd0] [c04c9254] __driver_probe_device+0x1bc/0x1fc\n|[c1053d00] [c04c9334] driver_probe_device+0x38/0xa8\n|[c1053d30] [c04c9560] __driver_attach+0xf4/0x10c\n|[c1053d50] [c04c6af8] bus_for_each_dev+0x68/0xd0\n|[c1053d90] [c04c7c34] bus_add_driver+0xcc/0x1ec\n|[c1053dc0] [c04c9f6c] driver_register+0xcc/0x110\n|[c1053de0] [c0aa3f40] emac_init+0x1c4/0x200\n\nThis bug showed up starting with v7.3-rc1. At the NIP in\nphy_link_topo_add_phy() is a netdev_need_ops_lock() check.\nThis was added by the following\ncommit ded86da4bbb7 (\"net: ethtool: relax ethnl_req_get_phydev() locking assertion\")\n\nThe bug shows up because at the time of_phy_connect() was called, the\nnetdev_ops were *not yet* determined. My fix is to move the code that\nsets netdev_ops+commac.ops+ethtool_ops further up as emac_init_config()\nderives that by looking at the device-tree and sets the required\ndev->phy_mode accordingly.\n\nDuring review, the Sashiko bot's AI stated that the commac assignment\nbecame a dead store. Great catch! To keep the original behavior as-is,\none mentioned option \"set dev->commac.ops = &emac_commac_ops only in\nthe non-gige case?\" sounded like a great plan. So the dev->commac.ops\nassignment for the non-gige-case moves into the else block.\n\nThis patch was tested on a WD MyBook Live (RGMII). the device now works again.\n\n## Affected\n\n- `Linux >= ded86da4bbb78cad74cecc368fee3ae3a296e2ca < c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67`\n- `Linux >= ded86da4bbb78cad74cecc368fee3ae3a296e2ca < 7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d`\n- `Linux 7.2`\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":3,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":2.8,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}