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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.9

CVE-2020-15209 json

Null pointer dereference in tensorflow-lite

published 2020-09-25 6 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-tensorflow-2020-15209 , EUVD-2020-0205 , GHSA-qh32-6jjc-qprm , PYSEC-2020-132 , PYSEC-2020-289 , PYSEC-2020-324

cvss
5.9
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.8%
EPSS 0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 56%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In tensorflow-lite before versions 1.15.4, 2.0.3, 2.1.2, 2.2.1 and 2.3.1, a crafted TFLite model can force a node to have as input a tensor backed by a `nullptr` buffer. This can be achieved by changing a buffer index in the flatbuffer serialization to convert a read-only tensor to a read-write one. The runtime assumes that these buffers are written to before a possible read, hence they are initialized with `nullptr`. However, by changing the buffer index for a tensor and implicitly converting that tensor to be a read-write one, as there is nothing in the model that writes to it, we get a null pointer dereference. The issue is patched in commit 0b5662bc, and is released in TensorFlow versions 1.15.4, 2.0.3, 2.1.2, 2.2.1, or 2.3.1.

Patch / fix

  • pypi tensorflow 1.15.4, 2.0.3, 2.1.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.1
  • pypi tensorflow-cpu 1.15.4, 2.0.3, 2.1.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.1
  • pypi tensorflow-gpu 1.15.4, 2.0.3, 2.1.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.1
  • bitnami tensorflow 1.15.4, 2.0.3, 2.1.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.1
  • google tensorflow 1.15.4, 2.0.3, 2.1.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.1
  • tensorflow2 openSUSE Leap 15.2 2.1.2-lp152.7.3.1
  • tensorflow2-lite openSUSE Leap 15.2 2.1.2-lp152.7.3.1
  • tensorflow2_2_1_2-gnu-hpc openSUSE Leap 15.2 2.1.2-lp152.7.3.1
  • tensorflow2_2_1_2-gnu-openmpi2-hpc openSUSE Leap 15.2 2.1.2-lp152.7.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2020:1766-1

Exploit prediction

0.80% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 56% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-qh32-6jjc-qprm referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 5.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
GitHub 3.1 5.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 3.1 5.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
OSV 3.1 5.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi tensorflow
<1.15.4
>=2.0.0, <2.0.3
>=2.1.0, <2.1.2
>=2.2.0, <2.2.1
>=2.3.0, <2.3.1
1.15.4
2.0.3
2.1.2
2.2.1
2.3.1
pypi tensorflow-cpu
<1.15.4
>=2.0.0, <2.0.3
>=2.1.0, <2.1.2
>=2.2.0, <2.2.1
>=2.3.0, <2.3.1
1.15.4
2.0.3
2.1.2
2.2.1
2.3.1
pypi tensorflow-gpu
<1.15.4
>=2.0.0, <2.0.3
>=2.1.0, <2.1.2
>=2.2.0, <2.2.1
>=2.3.0, <2.3.1
1.15.4
2.0.3
2.1.2
2.2.1
2.3.1
bitnami tensorflow
<1.15.4
>=2.0.0, <2.0.3
>=2.1.0, <2.1.2
>=2.2.0, <2.2.1
>=2.3.0, <2.3.1
1.15.4
2.0.3
2.1.2
2.2.1
2.3.1

Affected products

  • tensorflow tensorflow

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.