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MEDIUM severity

CVE-2021-37669 — tensorflow

MEDIUMFix: tensorflow/tensorflow@3a73627

CVE-2021-37669 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-681 vulnerability in tensorflow. A fix is available for tensorflow — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Crash in NMS ops caused by integer conversion to unsigned

Also known asBIT-tensorflow-2021-37669GHSA-vmjw-c2vp-p33cPYSEC-2021-291PYSEC-2021-582PYSEC-2021-780
Published
Updated
Affected
9 pkgs
Patched
9 / 9
Exploits
None indexed
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 CVEs6th percentile — riskier than 6% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.00%0.22%0.45%0.68%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-2021-37669 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

9 pkgs affected
🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-gpu🐍tensorflow-gpu+1 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

An attacker can cause denial of service in applications serving models using tf.raw_ops.NonMaxSuppressionV5 by triggering a division by 0:

import tensorflow as tf

tf.raw_ops.NonMaxSuppressionV5(
  boxes=[[0.1,0.1,0.1,0.1],[0.2,0.2,0.2,0.2],[0.3,0.3,0.3,0.3]],
  scores=[1.0,2.0,3.0],
  max_output_size=-1,
  iou_threshold=0.5,
  score_threshold=0.5,
  soft_nms_sigma=1.0,
  pad_to_max_output_size=True)

The implementation uses a user controlled argument to resize a std::vector:

  const int output_size = max_output_size.scalar<int>()();
  // ...
  std::vector<int> selected;
  // ...
  if (pad_to_max_output_size) {
    selected.resize(output_size, 0);
    // ...
  }

However, as std::vector::resize takes the size argument as a size_t and output_size is an int, there is an implicit conversion to usigned. If the attacker supplies a negative value, this conversion results in a crash.

A similar issue occurs in CombinedNonMaxSuppression:

import tensorflow as tf

tf.raw_ops.NonMaxSuppressionV5(
  boxes=[[[[0.1,0.1,0.1,0.1],[0.2,0.2,0.2,0.2],[0.3,0.3,0.3,0.3]],[[0.1,0.1,0.1,0.1],[0.2,0.2,0.2,0.2],[0.3,0.3,0.3,0.3]],[[0.1,0.1,0.1,0.1],[0.2,0.2,0.2,0.2],[0.3,0.3,0.3,0.3]]]],
  scores=[[[1.0,2.0,3.0],[1.0,2.0,3.0],[1.0,2.0,3.0]]],
  max_output_size_per_class=-1,
  max_total_size=10,
  iou_threshold=score_threshold=0.5,
  pad_per_class=True,
  clip_boxes=True)

Patches

We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 3a7362750d5c372420aa8f0caf7bf5b5c3d0f52d and commit b5cdbf12ffcaaffecf98f22a6be5a64bb96e4f58.

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 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

9 total 9 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐍PyPItensorflowall versions2.3.4pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.3.4'
🐍PyPItensorflow≥ 2.4.0&&< 2.4.32.4.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.4.3'
🐍PyPItensorflow≥ 2.5.0&&< 2.5.12.5.1pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.5.1'
🐍PyPItensorflow-cpuall versions2.3.4pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.3.4'
🐍PyPItensorflow-cpu≥ 2.4.0&&< 2.4.32.4.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.4.3'
🐍PyPItensorflow-cpu≥ 2.5.0&&< 2.5.12.5.1pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.5.1'

Affected Products

1 product · 6 configurations
Application
tensorflowgoogle
≥ 2.4.0 && < 2.4.3
2 versions
2.5.02.6.0

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 2.3.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-37669 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact An attacker can cause denial of service in applications serving models using `tf.raw_ops.NonMaxSuppressionV5` by triggering a division by 0: ```python import tensorflow as tf tf.raw_ops.NonMaxSuppressionV5( boxes=[[0.1,0.1,0.1,0.1],[0.2,0.2,0.2,0.2],[0.3,0.3,0.3,0.3]], scores=[1.0,2.0,3.0], max_output_size=-1, iou_threshold=0.5, score_threshold=0.5, soft_nms_sigma=1.0, pad_to_max_output_size=True) ``` The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/460e000de3a83278fb00b61a16d161b1964f15f4/tensorflow/core/kernels/image/non_max_suppression_op.cc#L
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-37669 in your dependencies?

Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.

CVE-2021-37669: tensorflow DoS — Fixed in 2.3.4