Categories
CVE-2021-37690

Use-After-Free in tensorflow (CVE-2021-37690)

Summary

Vulnerability in tensorflow (CVE-2021-37690). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Exploitable via MutableHashTableShape. Mitigation: upgrade to 2.5.1 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions when running shape functions, some functions (such as MutableHashTableShape) produce extra output information in the form of a ShapeAndType struct. The shapes embedded in this struct are owned by an inference context that is cleaned up almost immediately; if the upstream code attempts to access this shape information, it can trigger a segfault. ShapeRefiner is mitigating this for normal output shapes by cloning them (and thus putting the newly created shape under ownership of an inference context that will not die), but we were not doing the same for shapes and types. This commit fixes that by doing similar logic on output shapes and types. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit ee119d4a498979525046fba1c3dd3f13a039fbb1. 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.

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-37690 has been found in tensorflow.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like MutableHashTableShape over the network to misuse the product.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade tensorflow to 2.5.1 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "tensorflow CVE-2021-37690" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2021-37690 (tensorflow) — CWE-416
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Attack surface: MutableHashTableShape / ShapeAndType / ShapeRefiner
Patched: 2.5.1 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

Use-after-free (CWE-416) exists in tensorflow. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via MutableHashTableShape.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of tensorflow. Attack surface: MutableHashTableShape / ShapeAndType / ShapeRefiner.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 2.5.1.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'tensorflow' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

  1. 1
    Identify exposure identify
    grep -r 'tensorflow' . | grep -v node_modules

    リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で tensorflow を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。

  2. 2
    Apply patch patch
    Upgrade tensorflow to 2.5.1

    ステージング環境で 2.5.1 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。

  3. 3
    Post-deployment verification verify
    Confirm patched version is live in production

    パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

PyPI tensorflow
[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.5.0"},{"fixed":"2.5.1"}]}]
PyPI tensorflow-cpu
[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.5.0"},{"fixed":"2.5.1"}]}]
PyPI tensorflow-gpu
[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.5.0"},{"fixed":"2.5.1"}]}]

References

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