CVE-2021-29575: Overflow/denial of service in `tf.raw_ops.ReverseSequence`

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2021-05-14 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-119

Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. The implementation of `tf.raw_ops.ReverseSequence` allows for stack overflow and/or `CHECK`-fail based denial of service. The implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/5b3b071975e01f0d250c928b2a8f901cd53b90a7/tensorflow/core/kernels/reverse_sequence_op.cc#L114-L118) fails to validate that `seq_dim` and `batch_dim` arguments are valid. Negative values for `seq_dim` can result in stack overflow or `CHECK`-failure, depending on the version of Eigen code used to implement the operation. Similar behavior can be exhibited by invalid values of `batch_dim`. 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.

Affected products

tensorflow: through 2.1.4; from 2.2.0 before 2.2.3; from 2.3.0 before 2.3.3; from 2.4.0 before 2.4.2 — fixed in 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: tensorflow 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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