AVID-2026-R0828

Description

Null pointer dereference in RaggedTensorToTensor in TensorFlow (CVE-2021-37638)

Details

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. Sending invalid argument for row_partition_types of tf.raw_ops.RaggedTensorToTensor API results in a null pointer dereference and undefined behavior. The implementation accesses the first element of a user supplied list of values without validating that the provided list is not empty. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 301ae88b331d37a2a16159b65b255f4f9eb39314. 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.

Reason for inclusion in AVID: CVE-2021-37638 describes a null pointer dereference in TensorFlow’s RaggedTensorToTensor API. TensorFlow is a core ML framework widely used to build, train, deploy, and serve AI systems, so this is a software vulnerability in a dependency/framework used in AI pipelines. It represents a security/safety issue (undefined behavior, potential crash) with a documented patch and affected versions, and the evidence is explicit in the report (CVSS details, commit, affected versions). Therefore it is a valid software supply chain vulnerability for AVID curation in general-purpose AI systems.

References

• NVD entry
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-hwr7-8gxx-fj5p
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/301ae88b331d37a2a16159b65b255f4f9eb39314

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: 2021-08-12
• Version: 0.3.3
• AVID Entry