CVE-2021-37661

critical
Published 2021-08-25 · Modified 2023-12-06
CVSS v3
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS v2
VIR risk
9.5

Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions an attacker can cause a denial of service in `boosted_trees_create_quantile_stream_resource` by using negative arguments. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/84d053187cb80d975ef2b9684d4b61981bca0c41/tensorflow/core/kernels/boosted_trees/quantile_ops.cc#L96) does not validate that `num_streams` only contains non-negative numbers. In turn, [this results in using this value to allocate memory](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/84d053187cb80d975ef2b9684d4b61981bca0c41/tensorflow/core/kernels/boosted_trees/quantiles/quantile_stream_resource.h#L31-L40). However, `reserve` receives an unsigned integer so there is an implicit conversion from a negative value to a large positive unsigned. This results in a crash from the standard library. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 8a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.6.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.5.1, TensorFlow 2.4.3, and TensorFlow 2.3.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

Predictions

Exploit likelihood
20%
Patch ETA

Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.

Mitigations

vendor Authored 2026-05-27

Vendor advisory: debian — https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-37661

OS impact

OSVersionStatusFixed in
arch archfixed2.5.1-1
debian debianforkyfixed0
debian debiansidfixed0

Package impact

EcosystemPackageVulnerableFixed
python PyPItensorflow<2.3.42.3.4
python PyPItensorflow>=2.4.0,<2.4.32.4.3
python PyPItensorflow>=2.5.0,<2.5.12.5.1
python PyPItensorflow-cpu<2.3.42.3.4
python PyPItensorflow-cpu>=2.4.0,<2.4.32.4.3
python PyPItensorflow-cpu>=2.5.0,<2.5.12.5.1
python PyPItensorflow-gpu<2.3.42.3.4
python PyPItensorflow-gpu>=2.4.0,<2.4.32.4.3
python PyPItensorflow-gpu>=2.5.0,<2.5.12.5.1
python PyPItensorflow<8a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992||>=2.4.0,<2.4.38a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992
python PyPItensorflow-cpu<8a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992||>=2.4.0,<2.4.38a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992
python PyPItensorflow-gpu<8a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992||>=2.4.0,<2.4.38a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992

References

Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.