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Severe, 6 weeks1498Projects326

1498 severe, 6 weeks · 326 projects

TensorFlowGHSA-4xfp-4pfp-89wg

Reference binding to nullptr in `RaggedTensorToSparse`

TensorFlow

CVE-2021-37656 · Published Aug 25, 2021 · updated Jul 8, 2026

Medium7.1
Fix: upgrade to 2.3.4 or later (3 fixed versions below)
GitHub advisory

Impact

An attacker can cause undefined behavior via binding a reference to null pointer in tf.raw_ops.RaggedTensorToSparse:

```python

import tensorflow as tf

tf.raw_ops.RaggedTensorToSparse(

rt_nested_splits=[[0, 38, 0]],

rt_dense_values=[])

`

The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/f24faa153ad31a4b51578f8181d3aaab77a1ddeb/tensorflow/core/kernels/ragged_tensor_to_sparse_kernel.cc#L30) has an incomplete validation of the splits values: it does not check that they are in increasing order.

Patches

We have patched the issue in GitHub commit [1071f554dbd09f7e101324d366eec5f4fe5a3ece](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/1071f554dbd09f7e101324d366eec5f4fe5a3ece).

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.

For more information

Please consult [our security guide](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/SECURITY.md) 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 versions

PackageAffectedFixed in
tensorflow
PyPI
< 2.3.42.3.4
>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.32.4.3
>= 2.5.0, < 2.5.12.5.1
Details and references

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