What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-23585: Memory leak in decoding PNG images in Tensorflow

• Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 1.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: yes
• Published: 2022-02-04 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-401

Description

Tensorflow is an Open Source Machine Learning Framework. When decoding PNG images TensorFlow can produce a memory leak if the image is invalid. After calling `png::CommonInitDecode(..., &decode)`, the `decode` value contains allocated buffers which can only be freed by calling `png::CommonFreeDecode(&decode)`. However, several error case in the function implementation invoke the `OP_REQUIRES` macro which immediately terminates the execution of the function, without allowing for the memory free to occur. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.8.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.7.1, TensorFlow 2.6.3, and TensorFlow 2.5.3, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

Affected products

• tensorflow: through 2.5.2; from 2.6.0 through 2.6.2; 2.7.0

References

• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/a1320ec1eac186da1d03f033109191f715b2b130/tensorflow/core/kernels/image/decode_image_op.cc#L322-L416
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/ab51e5b813573dc9f51efa335aebcf2994125ee9
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-fq6p-6334-8gr4
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/a1320ec1eac186da1d03f033109191f715b2b130/tensorflow/core/kernels/image/decode_image_op.cc#L322-L416
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/ab51e5b813573dc9f51efa335aebcf2994125ee9
• https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-fq6p-6334-8gr4

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