🛡️ CVE-2021-37676 — tensorflow

🟠 CVSS 8.0 — High ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-824 OSV
8.0
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

Reference binding to nullptr in shape inference

Impact

An attacker can cause undefined behavior via binding a reference to null pointer in tf.raw_ops.SparseFillEmptyRows:

```python

import tensorflow as tf

tf.compat.v1.disable_v2_behavior()

tf.raw_ops.SparseFillEmptyRows(

indices = tf.constant([], shape=[0, 0], dtype=tf.int64),

values = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.int64),

dense_shape = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.int64),

default_value = 0)

```

The shape inference [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/460e000de3a83278fb00b61a16d161b1964f15f4/tensorflow/core/ops/sparse_ops.cc#L608-L634) does not validate that the input arguments are not empty tensors.

Patches

We have patched the issue in GitHub commit [578e634b4f1c1c684d4b4294f9e5281b2133b3ed](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/578e634b4f1c1c684d4b4294f9e5281b2133b3ed).

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.

For more information

Please consult [our security guide](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/SECURITY.md) for more information regarding the security model and how to contact us with issues and questions.

Attribution

This vulnerability has been reported by Yakun Zhang of Baidu Security

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

Affected software

CVE-2021-37676 is recorded against 3 packages.

  • tensorflow
  • tensorflow-cpu (from 2.5.0 up to 2.5.1)
  • tensorflow-gpu (from 2.5.0 up to 2.5.1)

Timeline and source

Published on 6 March 2024 and last revised on 8 July 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from OSV.

References

github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
nvd.nist.gov (Web)

Details

Severity HIGH
CVSS Score 8.0
CVSS Vector CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CWE CWE-824
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source OSV
Published 2024-03-06
Updated 2026-08-12
Modified 2026-07-08

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
tensorflow — —
tensorflow-cpu 2.5.0 2.5.1
tensorflow-gpu 2.5.0 2.5.1

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