CVE-2021-37637: Null pointer dereference in `CompressElement` in TensorFlow

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: none known
Published: 2021-08-12 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. It is possible to trigger a null pointer dereference in TensorFlow by passing an invalid input to `tf.raw_ops.CompressElement`. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/47a06f40411a69c99f381495f490536972152ac0/tensorflow/core/data/compression_utils.cc#L34) was accessing the size of a buffer obtained from the return of a separate function call before validating that said buffer is valid. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 5dc7f6981fdaf74c8c5be41f393df705841fb7c5. 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.

Affected products

tensorflow: from 2.3.0 before 2.3.4; from 2.4.0 before 2.4.3; 2.5.0, 2.6.0-rc0, 2.6.0-rc1, 2.6.0-rc2 — fixed in 2.3.4, 2.4.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: tensorflow 2.3.4, 2.4.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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