AVID-2026-R0730

Description

Session operations in eager mode lead to null pointer dereferences (CVE-2021-29518)

Details

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In eager mode (default in TF 2.0 and later), session operations are invalid. However, users could still call the raw ops associated with them and trigger a null pointer dereference. The implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/eebb96c2830d48597d055d247c0e9aebaea94cd5/tensorflow/core/kernels/session_ops.cc#L104) dereferences the session state pointer without checking if it is valid. Thus, in eager mode, ctx->session_state() is nullptr and the call of the member function is undefined behavior. 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 CVE describes a null pointer dereference in TensorFlow’s eager/session operations, a vulnerability in a core ML framework widely used to build/train/deploy AI systems. This affects software components (TensorFlow) used in general-purpose AI pipelines, including dependencies and runtimes, and represents a security vulnerability (potential crash/denial of service). The report includes concrete details, affected versions, and a fix, providing sufficient evidence for curation.

References

• NVD entry
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-62gx-355r-9fhg
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/ff70c47a396ef1e3cb73c90513da4f5cb71bebba

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