# CVE-2026-98922: net: emac: move setting of netops to fix crash


- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 23 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98922, GHSA-x8q8-qwc9-fpg3, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98922

## What is CVE-2026-98922?

CVE-2026-98922 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 23 Oct 2026. 

### Official description

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

net: emac: move setting of netops to fix crash

fixes the following crash on driver initialization:

|BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000158
|Faulting instruction address: 0xc0566b40
|Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
|BE PAGE_SIZE=4K  PowerPC 44x Platform
|Modules linked in:
|CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: GW 7.3.0-rc3+ #1
|Tainted: [W]=WARN
|Hardware name: MyBook Live APM821XX 0x12c41c83 PowerPC 44x Platform
|NIP:  c0566b40 LR: c05648f8 CTR: c04c1e9c
|REGS: c1053a20 TRAP: 0300   Tainted: GW  (7.3.0-rc3+)
|MSR:  0002b000 <CE,EE,FP,ME>  CR: 24008808  XER: 00000000
|DEAR: 00000158 ESR: 00000000
|GPR00: c05648f8 c1053b10 c1063600 c1030000 c5ab3000 00000000 [...]
|GPR08: 00000002 00000000 00000000 c1053b40 84002808 00000000 [...]
|GPR16: cfffd210 00000002 c0beafcc cfffc960 00000000 c1030644 [...]
|GPR24: c0beafbc c1037000 00000000 0000000a 00000000 c1030000 [...]
|NIP [c0566b40] phy_link_topo_add_phy+0x2c/0x1d0
|LR [c05648f8] phy_attach_direct+0x1a4/0x368
|Call Trace:
|[c1053b10] [c0811e04] klist_put+0x54/0xb4 (unreliable)
|[c1053b40] [c05648f8] phy_attach_direct+0x1a4/0x368
|[c1053b70] [c0564ae8] phy_connect_direct+0x2c/0x60
|[c1053b90] [c056c7a8] of_phy_connect+0x50/0x74
|[c1053bc0] [c0572a88] emac_probe+0xd50/0x119c
|[c1053c90] [c04cb770] platform_probe+0x74/0xa4
|[c1053cb0] [c04c8f08] really_probe+0x120/0x2b0
|[c1053cd0] [c04c9254] __driver_probe_device+0x1bc/0x1fc
|[c1053d00] [c04c9334] driver_probe_device+0x38/0xa8
|[c1053d30] [c04c9560] __driver_attach+0xf4/0x10c
|[c1053d50] [c04c6af8] bus_for_each_dev+0x68/0xd0
|[c1053d90] [c04c7c34] bus_add_driver+0xcc/0x1ec
|[c1053dc0] [c04c9f6c] driver_register+0xcc/0x110
|[c1053de0] [c0aa3f40] emac_init+0x1c4/0x200

This bug showed up starting with v7.3-rc1. At the NIP in
phy_link_topo_add_phy() is a netdev_need_ops_lock() check.
This was added by the following
commit ded86da4bbb7 ("net: ethtool: relax ethnl_req_get_phydev() locking assertion")

The bug shows up because at the time of_phy_connect() was called, the
netdev_ops were *not yet* determined. My fix is to move the code that
sets netdev_ops+commac.ops+ethtool_ops further up as emac_init_config()
derives that by looking at the device-tree and sets the required
dev->phy_mode accordingly.

During review, the Sashiko bot's AI stated that the commac assignment
became a dead store. Great catch! To keep the original behavior as-is,
one mentioned option "set dev->commac.ops = &emac_commac_ops only in
the non-gige case?" sounded like a great plan. So the dev->commac.ops
assignment for the non-gige-case moves into the else block.

This patch was tested on a WD MyBook Live (RGMII). the device now works again.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98922?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98922?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2026-98922 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98922 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98922 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98922 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 23 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98922 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: 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-2026-98922/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98922/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98922
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98922
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98922

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98922/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.