CVE-2021-29611: Incomplete validation in `SparseReshape`

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-665

Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. Incomplete validation in `SparseReshape` results in a denial of service based on a `CHECK`-failure. The implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/e87b51ce05c3eb172065a6ea5f48415854223285/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_reshape_op.cc#L40) has no validation that the input arguments specify a valid sparse tensor. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.5.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.4.2 and TensorFlow 2.3.3, as these are the only affected versions.

Affected products

tensorflow: before 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 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: tensorflow 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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