# CVE-2025-38725: net: usb: asix_devices: add phy_mask for ax88772 mdio bus

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel ASIX USB driver can cause a system crash during suspend/resume on specific hardware.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66890, AZL-73842, BELL-CVE-2025-38725, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38725, GHSA-cvch-2h28-pxmh, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38725, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38725, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38725, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38725

## What is CVE-2025-38725?

CVE-2025-38725 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: usb: asix_devices: add phy_mask for ax88772 mdio bus

Without setting phy_mask for ax88772 mdio bus, current driver may create
at most 32 mdio phy devices with phy address range from 0x00 ~ 0x1f.
DLink DUB-E100 H/W Ver B1 is such a device. However, only one main phy
device will bind to net phy driver. This is creating issue during system
suspend/resume since phy_polling_mode() in phy_state_machine() will
directly deference member of phydev->drv for non-main phy devices. Then
NULL pointer dereference issue will occur. Due to only external phy or
internal phy is necessary, add phy_mask for ax88772 mdio bus to workarnoud
the issue.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38725?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38725?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38725 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38725 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38725 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38725 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38725 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38725/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38725/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38725
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38725
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38725

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38725/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.