Media access control security management in physical layer

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a first media data input/output (MDIO) port of a physical layer device (PHY) of a network, command information, from a central processing unit (CPU) to access a media access control (MAC) security (MACsec) function block, wherein a plurality of MDIO ports connect the PHY and CPU;
• determining from the command information:
• whether the command information includes a read command or a write command,
• if the command is the write command, write data to be written to the MACsec function block, and
• the length of the data to be read or written, and
• an address corresponding to a portion of the MACsec function block of which to read data from or write the data to based on the command information;
• executing the read command or write command against the MACsec function block based on the determined command information;
• receiving, at the PHY, a result of the execution, the result including an acknowledgement of the write command or the data read from the MACsec function block based on the read command;
• and
• providing the result of the execution to the CPU via the first MDIO port of the PHY.

A system comprising:

• a physical layer device (PHY) of a network including a plurality of management data input/output (MDIO) ports operating in parallel, each MDIO port providing a communication pathway between the PHY and a central processing unit (CPU) via an MDIO bus;
• the central processing unit (CPU) operating as a MDIO master device, configured to provide to the PHY, via the MDIO buses command information to access a media access control (MAC) security (MACsec) function block;
• an interface register corresponding to each MDIO port, each interface register comprising a command register, an address register, and a data register configured to store the command information;
• the MACsec function block provide resources accessible to the CPU via the PHY to enable security protocols on a network, the MACsec function block including memory space and register space accessible by the PHY to execute a read or write command based on the command information;
• an arbitration unit configured to arbitrate access to the MACsec function block between the interface registers of each MDIO port;
• and
• wherein the PHY is configured to receive a result to an execution of the read command or write command against the MACsec function block, and provide the result to the CPU via one the MDIO bus on which the command information was received.