CVE-2022-23567 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) 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 overflows in Tensorflow
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-23567.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-23567 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,386 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-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-cpu🐍tensorflow-gpu🐍tensorflow-gpu+1 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
The implementations of Sparse*Cwise* ops are vulnerable to integer overflows. These can be used to trigger large allocations (so, OOM based denial of service) or CHECK-fails when building new TensorShape objects (so, assert failures based denial of service):
import tensorflow as tf
import numpy as np
tf.raw_ops.SparseDenseCwiseDiv(
sp_indices=np.array([[9]]),
sp_values=np.array([5]),
sp_shape=np.array([92233720368., 92233720368]),
dense=np.array([4]))
We are missing some validation on the shapes of the input tensors as well as directly constructing a large TensorShape with user-provided dimensions. The latter is an instance of TFSA-2021-198 (CVE-2021-41197) and is easily fixed by replacing a call to TensorShape constructor with a call to BuildTensorShape static helper factory.
Patches
We have patched the issue in GitHub commits 1b54cadd19391b60b6fcccd8d076426f7221d5e8 and e952a89b7026b98fe8cbe626514a93ed68b7c510.
The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.8.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.7.1, TensorFlow 2.6.3, and TensorFlow 2.5.3, 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 Faysal Hossain Shezan from University of Virginia.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | all versions | 2.5.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.5.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | ≥ 2.6.0&&< 2.6.3 | 2.6.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.6.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow | ≥ 2.7.0&&< 2.7.1 | 2.7.1pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow==2.7.1' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow-cpu | all versions | 2.5.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.5.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow-cpu | ≥ 2.6.0&&< 2.6.3 | 2.6.3pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.6.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | tensorflow-cpu | ≥ 2.7.0&&< 2.7.1 | 2.7.1pip install --upgrade 'tensorflow-cpu==2.7.1' |
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 2.5.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-23567 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-2022-23567 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.