AVID-2026-R0857

Description

Reference binding to nullptr in unicode encoding in TensorFlow (CVE-2021-37667)

Details

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions an attacker can cause undefined behavior via binding a reference to null pointer in tf.raw_ops.UnicodeEncode. The implementation reads the first dimension of the input_splits tensor before validating that this tensor is not empty. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 2e0ee46f1a47675152d3d865797a18358881d7a6. 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-2021-37667 describes a software vulnerability in TensorFlow (binding a reference to a null pointer in UnicodeEncode) with a fix in a specific commit. TensorFlow is a core ML framework used in building/training/deploying AI systems, making this a software supply-chain issue within AI software stacks. The CVE is a security vulnerability with potential integrity/confidentiality/availability impact, and the report provides explicit evidence (affected versions, fix commit, references).

References

• NVD entry
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-w74j-v8xh-3w5h
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/2e0ee46f1a47675152d3d865797a18358881d7a6

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