CVE-2020-15266 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Buffer Overflow vulnerability in tensorflow. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for tensorflow — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Float cast overflow undefined behavior
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-15266 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,987 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
tensorflow🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-gpuReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
When the boxes argument of tf.image.crop_and_resize has a very large value, the CPU kernel implementation receives it as a C++ nan floating point value. Attempting to operate on this is undefined behavior which later produces a segmentation fault.
Patches
We have patched the issue in c0319231333f0f16e1cc75ec83660b01fedd4182 and will release TensorFlow 2.4.0 containing the patch. TensorFlow nightly packages after this commit will also have the issue resolved.
For more information
Please consult our security guide for more information regarding the security model and how to contact us with issues and questions.
Attribution
This vulnerability has been reported in #42129
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | all versions | 2.4.0pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.4.0' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow-cpu | all versions | 2.4.0pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.4.0' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow-gpu | all versions | 2.4.0pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-gpu==2.4.0' |
Affected Products
tensorflowgoogleResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for tensorflow, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update tensorflow to 2.4.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15266 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop feeding it untrusted input: reject or quarantine files and payloads from unverified sources until you can upgrade, restrict accepted formats to the ones you actually need, and run the parsing or decoding step in a least-privileged sandbox or short-lived worker so a crash or corrupted read cannot reach the rest of the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-15266 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.