CVE-2021-29531

LOW

TensorFlow < 2.1.4 - Denial of Service via Empty Input Tensor in PNG Encoding

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. An attacker can trigger a `CHECK` fail in PNG encoding by providing an empty input tensor as the pixel data. This is because the implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/e312e0791ce486a80c9d23110841525c6f7c3289/tensorflow/core/kernels/image/encode_png_op.cc#L57-L60) only validates that the total number of pixels in the image does not overflow. Thus, an attacker can send an empty matrix for encoding. However, if the tensor is empty, then the associated buffer is `nullptr`. Hence, when calling `png::WriteImageToBuffer`(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/e312e0791ce486a80c9d23110841525c6f7c3289/tensorflow/core/kernels/image/encode_png_op.cc#L79-L93), the first argument (i.e., `image.flat<T>().data()`) is `NULL`. This then triggers the `CHECK_NOTNULL` in the first line of `png::WriteImageToBuffer`(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/e312e0791ce486a80c9d23110841525c6f7c3289/tensorflow/core/lib/png/png_io.cc#L345-L349). Since `image` is null, this results in `abort` being called after printing the stacktrace. Effectively, this allows an attacker to mount a denial of service attack. 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.

References (2)

Core 2
Core References
Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-3qxp-qjq7-w4hf

Scores

CVSS v3 2.5
EPSS 0.0019
EPSS Percentile 8.7%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Details

CWE
CWE-754
Status published
Products (4)
google/tensorflow < 2.1.4
pypi/tensorflow 0 - 2.1.4PyPI
pypi/tensorflow-cpu 0 - 2.1.4PyPI
pypi/tensorflow-gpu 0 - 2.1.4PyPI
Published May 14, 2021
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026