AVID-2026-R0851

Description

Crash caused by integer conversion to unsigned in TensorFlow (CVE-2021-37661)

Details

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 does not validate that num_streams only contains non-negative numbers. In turn, this results in using this value to allocate memory. 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.

Reason for inclusion in AVID: CVE-2021-37661 describes a vulnerability in TensorFlow (an ML framework) where invalid input can cause a crash/DoS. This concerns software used to build/train/deploy AI systems, i.e., a component in AI software stacks. It is a security vulnerability with available patch information and affected version details, providing sufficient evidence for inclusion in AI/GPAI supply chain curation.

References

• NVD entry
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-gf88-j2mg-cc82
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/8a84f7a2b5a2b27ecf88d25bad9ac777cd2f7992

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