diff --git a/drivers/usb/typec/bus.c b/drivers/usb/typec/bus.c
index 31c2a3130cad..ef79217a903f 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/typec/bus.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/typec/bus.c
@@ -156,7 +156,20 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(typec_altmode_exit);
  */
 void typec_altmode_attention(struct typec_altmode *adev, u32 vdo)
 {
-	struct typec_altmode *pdev = &to_altmode(adev)->partner->adev;
+	struct altmode *partner = to_altmode(adev)->partner;
+	struct typec_altmode *pdev;
+
+	/*
+	 * If partner is NULL then a NULL pointer error occurs when
+	 * dereferencing pdev and its operations. The original upstream commit
+	 * changes the return type so the tcpm can log when this occurs, but
+	 * due to KMI restrictions we can only silently prevent the error for
+	 * now.
+	 */
+	if (!partner)
+		return;
+
+	pdev = &partner->adev;
 
 	if (pdev->ops && pdev->ops->attention)
 		pdev->ops->attention(pdev, vdo);