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Critical

Out of bounds write in tensorflow-lite

  • Disclosed: 25.09.2020
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:19

Impact

In TensorFlow Lite models using segment sum can trigger a write out bounds / segmentation fault if the segment ids are not sorted. Code assumes that the segment ids are in increasing order, using the last element of the tensor holding them to determine the dimensionality of output tensor: https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/0e68f4d3295eb0281a517c3662f6698992b7b2cf/tensorflow/lite/kernels/segment_sum.cc#L39-L44

This results in allocating insufficient memory for the output tensor and in a write outside the bounds of the output array: https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/0e68f4d3295eb0281a517c3662f6698992b7b2cf/tensorflow/lite/kernels/internal/reference/reference_ops.h#L2625-L2631

This usually results in a segmentation fault, but depending on runtime conditions it can provide for a write gadget to be used in future memory corruption-based exploits.

Patches

We have patched the issue in 204945b and will release patch releases for all affected versions.

We recommend users to upgrade to TensorFlow 2.2.1, or 2.3.1.

Workarounds

A potential workaround would be to add a custom Verifier to the model loading code to ensure that the segment ids are sorted, although this only handles the case when the segment ids are stored statically in the model.

A similar validation could be done if the segment ids are generated at runtime between inference steps.

If the segment ids are generated as outputs of a tensor during inference steps, then there are no possible workaround and users are advised to upgrade to patched code.

For more information

Please consult our security guide for more information regarding the security model and how to contact us with issues and questions.

Attribution

This vulnerability has been reported by members of the Aivul Team from Qihoo 360.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) tensorflow >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.1, >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.1 2.2.1, 2.3.1
Python (PyPI) tensorflow-cpu >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.1, >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.1 2.2.1, 2.3.1
Python (PyPI) tensorflow-gpu >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.1, >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.1 2.2.1, 2.3.1

References

CVSS score 8.1/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-787
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
tensorflow, tensorflow-cpu, tensorflow-gpu
Disclosed
25.09.2020
Updated
11.10.2026 13:19

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2020-137 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2020-294 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2020-329 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-p2cq-cprg-frvm - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: tensorflow

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (433) in the archive
Total entries
433
First → latest
04.2019 07.2024
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 6
  • High 112
  • Medium 210
  • Low 105

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. Out of bounds write in tensorflow-lite this entry
    Critical · 8.1 CVE-2020-15214 >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.1, >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.1 2.2.1, 2.3.1
  2. TensorFlow has segfault in array_ops.upper_bound
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-33976 < 2.12.1 2.12.1
  3. TensorFlow vulnerable to Out-of-Bounds Read in DynamicStitch
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25659 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  4. TensorFlow vulnerable to seg fault in `tf.raw_ops.Print`
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25660 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  5. TensorFlow vulnerable to integer overflow in EditDistance
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25662 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  6. TensorFlow has Null Pointer Error in TensorArrayConcatV2
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25663 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  7. TensorFlow has Heap-buffer-overflow in AvgPoolGrad
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25664 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  8. TensorFlow has Null Pointer Error in SparseSparseMaximum
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25665 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  9. TensorFlow has Floating Point Exception in AudioSpectrogram
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25666 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  10. TensorFlow has a heap out-of-buffer read vulnerability in the QuantizeAndDequantize operation
    Critical · 9.8 CVE-2023-25668 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  11. TensorFlow has Floating Point Exception in AvgPoolGrad with XLA
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25669 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  12. TensorFlow has Null Pointer Error in QuantizedMatMulWithBiasAndDequantize
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25670 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  13. TensorFlow has segmentation fault in tfg-translate
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25671 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  14. TensorFlow has Null Pointer Error in LookupTableImportV2
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25672 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  15. TensorFlow has Floating Point Exception in TensorListSplit with XLA
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25673 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  16. TensorFlow has Null Pointer Error in RandomShuffle with XLA enable
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25674 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  17. TensorFlow has Segfault in Bincount with XLA
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25675 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  18. TensorFlow has null dereference on ParallelConcat with XLA
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25676 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  19. TensorFlow has double free in Fractional(Max/Avg)Pool
    High · 8.0 CVE-2023-25801 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  20. TensorFlow has Floating Point Exception in TFLite in conv kernel
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-27579 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
  21. TensorFlow vulnerable to Out-of-Bounds Read in GRUBlockCellGrad
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-25658 < 2.11.1 2.11.1
Show more (20) Showing 21 of 118

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