AVID-2026-R0728

Description

Null pointer dereference via invalid Ragged Tensors (CVE-2021-29516)

Details

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. Calling tf.raw_ops.RaggedTensorToVariant with arguments specifying an invalid ragged tensor results in a null pointer dereference. The implementation of RaggedTensorToVariant operations(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/904b3926ed1c6c70380d5313d282d248a776baa1/tensorflow/core/kernels/ragged_tensor_to_variant_op.cc#L39-L40) does not validate that the ragged tensor argument is non-empty. Since batched_ragged contains no elements, batched_ragged.splits is a null vector, thus batched_ragged.splits(0) will result in dereferencing nullptr. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.5.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.4.2, TensorFlow 2.3.3, TensorFlow 2.2.3 and TensorFlow 2.1.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

Reason for inclusion in AVID: The candidate describes CVE-2021-29516, a TensorFlow vulnerability (null pointer dereference) in RaggedTensorToVariant. TensorFlow is a core AI framework used in ML pipelines, training, and deployment. The issue affects a component used in AI software stacks, representing a software supply-chain vulnerability in dependencies and runtimes. It is a security-related vulnerability (null pointer dereference with potential DoS/crash implications) and the report provides explicit details and references (CVE, advisories, commit) enabling traceability. Therefore, all four checks are satisfied.

References

• NVD entry
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-84mw-34w6-2q43
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/b055b9c474cd376259dde8779908f9eeaf097d93

Affected or Relevant Artifacts

• Developer: tensorflow
• Deployer: tensorflow
• Artifact Details:

Impact

AVID Taxonomy Categorization

• Risk domains: Security
• SEP subcategories: S0100: Software Vulnerability
• Lifecycle stages: L06: Deployment

CVSS

CWE

Other information

• Report Type: Advisory
• Credits:
• Date Reported: 2021-05-14
• Version: 0.3.3
• AVID Entry