CVE-2021-37635 Heap out of bounds access in sparse reduction operations in TensorFlow

High 7.3 Published Updated

Attackers can trigger heap out-of-bounds access in sparse reduction operations, potentially leading to code execution or crashes.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Any signed-in user
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
Not needed
Fix
Available

What is CVE-2021-37635?

CVE-2021-37635 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Google Tensorflow, published on 12 Aug 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the implementation of sparse reduction operations in TensorFlow can trigger accesses outside of bounds of heap allocated data. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/a1bc56203f21a5a4995311825ffaba7a670d7747/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_reduce_op.cc#L217-L228) fails to validate that each reduction group does not overflow and that each corresponding index does not point to outside the bounds of the input tensor. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 87158f43f05f2720a374f3e6d22a7aaa3a33f750. 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.

Weakness: CWE-125

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-37635?

22 open source packages ship an affected version, including tensorflow, tensorflow-cpu and tensorflow-gpu. It affects 1 product.

PackageAffectedFixed in
tensorflow BitnamiFrom 2.3.02.3.4, 2.4.3, 2.5.1
tensorflow PyPIAll versions2.3.4
tensorflow PyPIAll versions2.3.4
tensorflow PyPIFrom 2.3.02.3.4, 2.4.3
tensorflow PyPIFrom 2.4.02.4.3
tensorflow PyPIFrom 2.4.02.4.3
16 more packages
tensorflow PyPIFrom 2.5.02.5.1
tensorflow PyPIFrom 2.5.02.5.1
tensorflow-cpu PyPIAll versions2.3.4
tensorflow-cpu PyPIAll versions2.3.4
tensorflow-cpu PyPIFrom 2.3.02.3.4, 2.4.3
tensorflow-cpu PyPIFrom 2.4.02.4.3
tensorflow-cpu PyPIFrom 2.4.02.4.3
tensorflow-cpu PyPIFrom 2.5.02.5.1
tensorflow-cpu PyPIFrom 2.5.02.5.1
tensorflow-gpu PyPIAll versions2.3.4
tensorflow-gpu PyPIAll versions2.3.4
tensorflow-gpu PyPIFrom 2.3.02.3.4, 2.4.3
tensorflow-gpu PyPIFrom 2.4.02.4.3
tensorflow-gpu PyPIFrom 2.4.02.4.3
tensorflow-gpu PyPIFrom 2.5.02.5.1
tensorflow-gpu PyPIFrom 2.5.02.5.1

Products include Google Tensorflow.

How do I fix CVE-2021-37635?

Upgrade tensorflow to a fixed version for your release line: 2.3.4, 2.4.3 or 2.5.1.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2021-37635 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-37635 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Google Tensorflow vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BIT-tensorflow-2021-37635, GHSA-cgfm-62j4-v4rf, PYSEC-2021-257, PYSEC-2021-548, PYSEC-2021-746.

Is CVE-2021-37635 in your software?

Upload an SBOM and sbomify checks it against every vulnerability here, every day.

Check your SBOMs for free