Vulnerability · Published Aug 12, 2021 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2021-37646Bad alloc in `StringNGrams` caused by integer conversion in TensorFlow

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in tensorflow from tensorflow. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 95.4% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the implementation of `tf.raw_ops.StringNGrams` is vulnerable to an integer overflow issue caused by converting a signed integer value to an unsigned one and then allocating memory based on this value. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/8d72537c6abf5a44103b57b9c2e22c14f5f49698/tensorflow/core/kernels/string_ngrams_op.cc#L184) calls `reserve` on a `tstring` with a value that sometimes can be negative if user supplies negative `ngram_widths`. The `reserve` method calls `TF_TString_Reserve` which has an `unsigned long` argument for the size of the buffer. Hence, the implicit conversion transforms the negative value to a large integer. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit c283e542a3f422420cfdb332414543b62fc4e4a5. 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.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
PyPItensorflow2.3.4, 2.4.3PYSEC-2021-268
PyPItensorflow2.3.4GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow2.4.3GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow2.5.1GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow-cpu2.4.3GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow-cpu2.3.4, 2.4.3PYSEC-2021-559
PyPItensorflow-cpu2.3.4GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow-cpu2.5.1GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow-gpu2.3.4, 2.4.3PYSEC-2021-757
PyPItensorflow-gpu2.3.4GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow-gpu2.4.3GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg
PyPItensorflow-gpu2.5.1GHSA-h6jh-7gv5-28vg

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
tensorflow tensorflow >= 2.5.0, < 2.5.1>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.3< 2.3.4

Weakness: CWE-681 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References