CVE-2021-37649: Null pointer dereference in `UncompressElement` 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. The code for `tf.raw_ops.UncompressElement` can be made to trigger a null pointer dereference. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/f24faa153ad31a4b51578f8181d3aaab77a1ddeb/tensorflow/core/kernels/data/experimental/compression_ops.cc#L50-L53) obtains a pointer to a `CompressedElement` from a `Variant` tensor and then proceeds to dereference it for decompressing. There is no check that the `Variant` tensor contained a `CompressedElement`, so the pointer is actually `nullptr`. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 7bdf50bb4f5c54a4997c379092888546c97c3ebd. 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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