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Fencer Intel
high 8.8

CVE-2021-41208 json

Incomplete validation in boosted trees code

published 5y ago modified 2mo ago also BIT-tensorflow-2021-41208 , EUVD-2021-0430 , GHSA-57wx-m983-2f88 , PYSEC-2021-400 , PYSEC-2021-617 , PYSEC-2021-815

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 6%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the code for boosted trees in TensorFlow is still missing validation. As a result, attackers can trigger denial of service (via dereferencing `nullptr`s or via `CHECK`-failures) as well as abuse undefined behavior (binding references to `nullptr`s). An attacker can also read and write from heap buffers, depending on the API that gets used and the arguments that are passed to the call. Given that the boosted trees implementation in TensorFlow is unmaintained, it is recommend to no longer use these APIs. We will deprecate TensorFlow's boosted trees APIs in subsequent releases. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.7.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.6.1, TensorFlow 2.5.2, and TensorFlow 2.4.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

Patch / fix

  • pypi tensorflow 2.4.4, 2.5.2, 2.6.1, 2.7.0
  • pypi tensorflow-cpu 2.4.4, 2.5.2, 2.6.1, 2.7.0
  • pypi tensorflow-gpu 2.4.4, 2.5.2, 2.6.1, 2.7.0
  • bitnami tensorflow 2.4.4, 2.5.2, 2.6.1
  • google tensorflow 2.4.4, 2.5.2, 2.6.1
  • tensorflow Arch Linux 2.6.1-1

arch linux advisories AVG-2529

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Exploit prediction

0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
GitHub 3.1 9.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.6 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
OSV 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi tensorflow
>=2.6.0, <2.6.1
>=2.5.0, <2.5.2
<2.4.4
>=2.7.0rc0, <2.7.0
2.6.1
2.5.2
2.4.4
2.7.0
pypi tensorflow-cpu
>=2.6.0, <2.6.1
>=2.5.0, <2.5.2
<2.4.4
>=2.7.0rc0, <2.7.0
2.6.1
2.5.2
2.4.4
2.7.0
pypi tensorflow-gpu
>=2.6.0, <2.6.1
>=2.5.0, <2.5.2
<2.4.4
>=2.7.0rc0, <2.7.0
2.6.1
2.5.2
2.4.4
2.7.0
bitnami tensorflow
>=2.4.0, <2.4.4
>=2.5.0, <2.5.2
>=2.6.0, <2.6.1
2.4.4
2.5.2
2.6.1

Affected products

  • tensorflow tensorflow

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference
  • CWE-824 Access of Uninitialized Pointer

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.