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

net-sysfs: add check for netdevice being present to speed_show

When bringing down the netdevice or system shutdown, a panic can be
triggered while accessing the sysfs path because the device is already
removed.

    [  755.549084] mlx5_core 0000:12:00.1: Shutdown was called
    [  756.404455] mlx5_core 0000:12:00.0: Shutdown was called
    ...
    [  757.937260] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at           (null)
    [  758.031397] IP: [<ffffffff8ee11acb>] dma_pool_alloc+0x1ab/0x280

    crash> bt
    ...
    PID: 12649  TASK: ffff8924108f2100  CPU: 1   COMMAND: "amsd"
    ...
     #9 [ffff89240e1a38b0] page_fault at ffffffff8f38c778
        [exception RIP: dma_pool_alloc+0x1ab]
        RIP: ffffffff8ee11acb  RSP: ffff89240e1a3968  RFLAGS: 00010046
        RAX: 0000000000000246  RBX: ffff89243d874100  RCX: 0000000000001000
        RDX: 0000000000000000  RSI: 0000000000000246  RDI: ffff89243d874090
        RBP: ffff89240e1a39c0   R8: 000000000001f080   R9: ffff8905ffc03c00
        R10: ffffffffc04680d4  R11: ffffffff8edde9fd  R12: 00000000000080d0
        R13: ffff89243d874090  R14: ffff89243d874080  R15: 0000000000000000
        ORIG_RAX: ffffffffffffffff  CS: 0010  SS: 0018
    #10 [ffff89240e1a39c8] mlx5_alloc_cmd_msg at ffffffffc04680f3 [mlx5_core]
    #11 [ffff89240e1a3a18] cmd_exec at ffffffffc046ad62 [mlx5_core]
    #12 [ffff89240e1a3ab8] mlx5_cmd_exec at ffffffffc046b4fb [mlx5_core]
    #13 [ffff89240e1a3ae8] mlx5_core_access_reg at ffffffffc0475434 [mlx5_core]
    #14 [ffff89240e1a3b40] mlx5e_get_fec_caps at ffffffffc04a7348 [mlx5_core]
    #15 [ffff89240e1a3bb0] get_fec_supported_advertised at ffffffffc04992bf [mlx5_core]
    #16 [ffff89240e1a3c08] mlx5e_get_link_ksettings at ffffffffc049ab36 [mlx5_core]
    #17 [ffff89240e1a3ce8] __ethtool_get_link_ksettings at ffffffff8f25db46
    #18 [ffff89240e1a3d48] speed_show at ffffffff8f277208
    #19 [ffff89240e1a3dd8] dev_attr_show at ffffffff8f0b70e3
    #20 [ffff89240e1a3df8] sysfs_kf_seq_show at ffffffff8eedbedf
    #21 [ffff89240e1a3e18] kernfs_seq_show at ffffffff8eeda596
    #22 [ffff89240e1a3e28] seq_read at ffffffff8ee76d10
    #23 [ffff89240e1a3e98] kernfs_fop_read at ffffffff8eedaef5
    #24 [ffff89240e1a3ed8] vfs_read at ffffffff8ee4e3ff
    #25 [ffff89240e1a3f08] sys_read at ffffffff8ee4f27f
    #26 [ffff89240e1a3f50] system_call_fastpath at ffffffff8f395f92

    crash> net_device.state ffff89443b0c0000
      state = 0x5  (__LINK_STATE_START| __LINK_STATE_NOCARRIER)

To prevent this scenario, we also make sure that the netdevice is present.