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MEDIUM severity

CVE-2021-29605 — tensorflow

MEDIUMFix: tensorflow/tensorflow@7c8cc4e

CVE-2021-29605 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-190 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.

Integer overflow in TFLite memory allocation

Also known asBIT-tensorflow-2021-29605GHSA-jf7h-7m85-w2v2PYSEC-2021-242PYSEC-2021-533PYSEC-2021-731
Published
Updated
Affected
12 pkgs
Patched
12 / 12
Exploits
1 known
Exploitation data as of Oct 9, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
0.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs12th percentile — riskier than 12% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.00%0.24%0.48%0.72%0.0%0.2%Apr 26Aug 26Oct 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-29605 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

12 pkgs affected
🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu+4 more

Real-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

The TFLite code for allocating TFLiteIntArrays is vulnerable to an integer overflow issue:

int TfLiteIntArrayGetSizeInBytes(int size) {
  static TfLiteIntArray dummy;
  return sizeof(dummy) + sizeof(dummy.data[0]) * size;
}   

An attacker can craft a model such that the size multiplier is so large that the return value overflows the int datatype and becomes negative. In turn, this results in invalid value being given to malloc:

TfLiteIntArray* TfLiteIntArrayCreate(int size) {
  TfLiteIntArray* ret = (TfLiteIntArray*)malloc(TfLiteIntArrayGetSizeInBytes(size));
  ret->size = size; 
  return ret;
}

In this case, ret->size would dereference an invalid pointer.

Patches

We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 7c8cc4ec69cd348e44ad6a2699057ca88faad3e5.

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 members of the Aivul Team from Qihoo 360.

Affected Packages

12 total 12 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐍PyPItensorflowall versions2.1.4pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.1.4'
🐍PyPItensorflow≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.2.32.2.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.2.3'
🐍PyPItensorflow≥ 2.3.0&&< 2.3.32.3.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.3.3'
🐍PyPItensorflow≥ 2.4.0&&< 2.4.22.4.2pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.4.2'
🐍PyPItensorflow-cpuall versions2.1.4pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.1.4'
🐍PyPItensorflow-cpu≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.2.32.2.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.2.3'

Affected Products

1 product · 4 configurations
Application
tensorflowgoogle
≥ 2.4.0 && < 2.4.2
range
Exploits & PoCs
1

Research 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 dependency
  1. Detect

    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.

  2. Fix

    Update tensorflow to 2.1.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-29605 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. 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

### Impact The TFLite code for allocating `TFLiteIntArray`s is [vulnerable to an integer overflow issue](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/4ceffae632721e52bf3501b736e4fe9d1221cdfa/tensorflow/lite/c/common.c#L24-L27): ```cc int TfLiteIntArrayGetSizeInBytes(int size) { static TfLiteIntArray dummy; return sizeof(dummy) + sizeof(dummy.data[0]) * size; } ``` An attacker can craft a model such that the `size` multiplier is so large that the return value overflows the `int` datatype and becomes negative. In turn, this results in [invalid value being given to `malloc`](https://git
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-29605 in your dependencies?

Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.

CVE-2021-29605: tensorflow — Fixed in 2.1.4