AI and data stack advisories

Severe, 6 weeks1498Projects326

1498 severe, 6 weeks · 326 projects

TensorFlowGHSA-9xh4-23q4-v6wr

Heap buffer overflow and undefined behavior in `FusedBatchNorm`

TensorFlow

CVE-2021-29583 · Published May 21, 2021 · updated Jul 8, 2026

Low2.5
Fix: upgrade to 2.1.4 or later (4 fixed versions below)
GitHub advisory

Impact

The implementation of tf.raw_ops.FusedBatchNorm is vulnerable to a heap buffer overflow:

```python

import tensorflow as tf

x = tf.zeros([10, 10, 10, 6], dtype=tf.float32)

scale = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32)

offset = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32)

mean = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32)

variance = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32)

epsilon = 0.0

exponential_avg_factor = 0.0

data_format = "NHWC"

is_training = False

tf.raw_ops.FusedBatchNorm(

x=x, scale=scale, offset=offset, mean=mean, variance=variance,

epsilon=epsilon, exponential_avg_factor=exponential_avg_factor,

data_format=data_format, is_training=is_training)

`

If the tensors are empty, the same implementation can trigger undefined behavior by dereferencing null pointers:

```python

import tensorflow as tf

import numpy as np

x = tf.zeros([10, 10, 10, 1], dtype=tf.float32)

scale = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)

offset = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)

mean = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)

variance = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)

epsilon = 0.0

exponential_avg_factor = 0.0

data_format = "NHWC"

is_training = False

tf.raw_ops.FusedBatchNorm(

x=x, scale=scale, offset=offset, mean=mean, variance=variance,

epsilon=epsilon, exponential_avg_factor=exponential_avg_factor,...

Affected versions

PackageAffectedFixed in
tensorflow
PyPI
< 2.1.42.1.4
>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.32.2.3
>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.32.3.3
>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.22.4.2
Details and references

### Impact The implementation of `tf.raw_ops.FusedBatchNorm` is vulnerable to a heap buffer overflow: ```python import tensorflow as tf x = tf.zeros([10, 10, 10, 6], dtype=tf.float32) scale = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32) offset = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32) mean = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32) variance = tf.constant([0.0], shape=[1], dtype=tf.float32) epsilon = 0.0 exponential_avg_factor = 0.0 data_format = "NHWC" is_training = False tf.raw_ops.FusedBatchNorm( x=x, scale=scale, offset=offset, mean=mean, variance=variance, epsilon=epsilon, exponential_avg_factor=exponential_avg_factor, data_format=data_format, is_training=is_training) ``` If the tensors are empty, the same implementation can trigger undefined behavior by dereferencing null pointers: ```python import tensorflow as tf import numpy as np x = tf.zeros([10, 10, 10, 1], dtype=tf.float32) scale = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32) offset = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32) mean = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32) variance = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32) epsilon = 0.0 exponential_avg_factor = 0.0 data_format = "NHWC" is_training = False tf.raw_ops.FusedBatchNorm( x=x, scale=scale, offset=offset, mean=mean, variance=variance, epsilon=epsilon, exponential_avg_factor=exponential_avg_factor, data_format=data_format, is_training=is_training) ``` The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/57d86e0db5d1365f19adcce848dfc1bf89fdd4c7/tensorflow/core/kernels/fused_batch_norm_op.cc) fails to validate that `scale`, `offset`, `mean` and `variance` (the last two only when required) all have the same number of elements as the number of channels of `x`. This results in heap out of bounds reads when the buffers backing these tensors are indexed past their boundary. If the tensors are empty, the validation mentioned in the above paragraph would also trigger and prevent the undefined behavior. ### Patches We have patched the issue in GitHub commit [6972f9dfe325636b3db4e0bc517ee22a159365c0](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/6972f9dfe325636b3db4e0bc517ee22a159365c0). The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.5.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.4.2, TensorFlow 2.3.3, TensorFlow 2.2.3 and TensorFlow 2.1.4, 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 Ying Wang and Yakun Zhang of Baidu X-Team.

CVSS 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Severity from
GitHub (reviewed advisory)
Weakness
CWE-125, CWE-476, CWE-787
Also known as
BIT-tensorflow-2021-29583, CVE-2021-29583, PYSEC-2021-220, PYSEC-2021-511, PYSEC-2021-709

More TensorFlow advisories

All TensorFlow