CVE-2021-37650: Segfault and heap buffer overflow in `{Experimental,}DatasetToTFRecord` in TensorFlow

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 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-120

Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the implementation for `tf.raw_ops.ExperimentalDatasetToTFRecord` and `tf.raw_ops.DatasetToTFRecord` can trigger heap buffer overflow and segmentation fault. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/f24faa153ad31a4b51578f8181d3aaab77a1ddeb/tensorflow/core/kernels/data/experimental/to_tf_record_op.cc#L93-L102) assumes that all records in the dataset are of string type. However, there is no check for that, and the example given above uses numeric types. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit e0b6e58c328059829c3eb968136f17aa72b6c876. 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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