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Fencer Vulns
low 2.5

CVE-2021-29530 json

Invalid validation in `SparseMatrixSparseCholesky`

published 2021-05-14 5 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-tensorflow-2021-29530 , EUVD-2021-0271 , GHSA-xcwj-wfcm-m23c , PYSEC-2021-167 , PYSEC-2021-458 , PYSEC-2021-656

cvss
2.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 14%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. An attacker can trigger a null pointer dereference by providing an invalid `permutation` to `tf.raw_ops.SparseMatrixSparseCholesky`. This is because the implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/080f1d9e257589f78b3ffb75debf584168aa6062/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse/sparse_cholesky_op.cc#L85-L86) fails to properly validate the input arguments. Although `ValidateInputs` is called and there are checks in the body of this function, the code proceeds to the next line in `ValidateInputs` since `OP_REQUIRES`(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/080f1d9e257589f78b3ffb75debf584168aa6062/tensorflow/core/framework/op_requires.h#L41-L48) is a macro that only exits the current function. Thus, the first validation condition that fails in `ValidateInputs` will cause an early return from that function. However, the caller will continue execution from the next line. The fix is to either explicitly check `context->status()` or to convert `ValidateInputs` to return a `Status`. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.5.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.4.2, TensorFlow 2.3.3, TensorFlow 2.2.3 and TensorFlow 2.1.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

Patch / fix

  • pypi tensorflow 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2
  • pypi tensorflow-cpu 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2
  • pypi tensorflow-gpu 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2
  • bitnami tensorflow 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2
  • google tensorflow 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2
  • tensorflow Arch Linux 2.5.0-1

arch linux advisories AVG-1962

Exploit prediction

0.23% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 14% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-xcwj-wfcm-m23c referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 2.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
GitHub 3.1 2.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.6 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
OSV 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi tensorflow
<2.1.4
>=2.2.0, <2.2.3
>=2.3.0, <2.3.3
>=2.4.0, <2.4.2
2.1.4
2.2.3
2.3.3
2.4.2
pypi tensorflow-cpu
<2.1.4
>=2.2.0, <2.2.3
>=2.3.0, <2.3.3
>=2.4.0, <2.4.2
2.1.4
2.2.3
2.3.3
2.4.2
pypi tensorflow-gpu
<2.1.4
>=2.2.0, <2.2.3
>=2.3.0, <2.3.3
>=2.4.0, <2.4.2
2.1.4
2.2.3
2.3.3
2.4.2
bitnami tensorflow
<2.1.4
>=2.2.0, <2.2.3
>=2.3.0, <2.3.3
>=2.4.0, <2.4.2
2.1.4
2.2.3
2.3.3
2.4.2

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.