CVE-2026-80993 - net: phylink: correctly validate returned PCS in phylink_inband_caps

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MEDIUM

net: phylink: correctly validate returned PCS in phylink_inband_caps

Published Sep 11, 2026

5.5

MEDIUM

CVSS 3.1

EPSS 0.21%

Description

In phylink_inband_caps(), the PCS returned by mac_select_pcs is only checked if NULL but mac_select_pcs can also return an error pointer.

This can cause a kernel panic as phylink_pcs_inband_caps() only checks if passed PCS is not NULL and directly dereference ops from the phylink_pcs struct.

Use the IS_ERR_OR_NULL macro to address both case where the returned PCS can be NULL or an error pointer and prevent a kernel panic.

Affected products

Vendor Linux Product Linux Default
unaffected
- Version
  
  Status
  affected
  Constraints
- Version
  
  Status
  affected
  Constraints
- Version
  
  Status
  affected
  Constraints
Vendor Linux Product Linux Default
affected
- Version
  6.14
  Status
  affected
  Constraints
  -
- Version
  0
  Status
  unaffected
  Constraints
  <6.14
- Version
  6.18.50
  Status
  unaffected
  Constraints
  <=6.18.*
- Version
  7.2.4
  Status
  unaffected
  Constraints
  <=7.2.*
- Version
  7.3-rc1
  Status
  unaffected
  Constraints
  <=*

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor

Product

Default status

Versions

Linux

unaffected

Version	Status	Constraints
	affected
	affected
	affected

Linux

affected

Version	Status	Constraints
6.14	affected	-
0	unaffected	<6.14
6.18.50	unaffected	<=6.18.*
7.2.4	unaffected	<=7.2.*
7.3-rc1	unaffected	<=*

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

kernel

Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

kernel-rt

Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

kernel

Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

kernel

Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

kernel-rt

Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

kernel

Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

kernel-rt

Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

kernel

Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

kernel-rt

Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8

Not affected
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9

Fix deferred

Product	Package	State	Advisory
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10	kernel	Fix deferred	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10	kernel-rt	Fix deferred	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	kernel	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	kernel	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	kernel-rt	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	kernel	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	kernel-rt	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	kernel	Fix deferred	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	kernel-rt	Fix deferred	n/a
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4	openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4	openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9	Fix deferred	n/a

Remediation

No remediation recorded yet.

Weaknesses (1)

CWE-476

NULL Pointer Dereference

References (9)

Link	Providers	Tags
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-80993		Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2532314		Issue Tracking
https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2026-76316		Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-80993.mbox
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b6b533f83461c3730875cf3ed5ff6362dcb67be9
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f2849b1fd059ec9b3281b771e6ac5aad9feee851
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fb4d77553841ae85bed9b2cf03351c401e871d85
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80993
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80993