AVID-2026-R0877

Description

Use after free and segfault in shape inference functions in TensorFlow (CVE-2021-37690)

Details

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions when running shape functions, some functions (such as MutableHashTableShape) produce extra output information in the form of a ShapeAndType struct. The shapes embedded in this struct are owned by an inference context that is cleaned up almost immediately; if the upstream code attempts to access this shape information, it can trigger a segfault. ShapeRefiner is mitigating this for normal output shapes by cloning them (and thus putting the newly created shape under ownership of an inference context that will not die), but we were not doing the same for shapes and types. This commit fixes that by doing similar logic on output shapes and types. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit ee119d4a498979525046fba1c3dd3f13a039fbb1. 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: The CVE describes a software vulnerability in TensorFlow (an AI framework) involving use-after-free that can cause a segfault. This directly concerns AI/ML software stacks and their runtimes, and TensorFlow is a core component in many AI pipelines, making it part of the general-purpose AI systems supply chain. The issue affects the software ecosystem (shape inference code in TensorFlow), not hardware/firmware, and the report provides explicit CVE details, affected versions, and a fix in the TensorFlow codebase, supporting its security impact and evidence for curation.

References

• NVD entry
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-3hxh-8cp2-g4hg
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/ee119d4a498979525046fba1c3dd3f13a039fbb1

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