TI-2021-15553 Aliases CVE-2021-37678 GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r

Arbitrary code execution due to YAML deserialization

MEDIUM 40CWE-502Published 2021-08-12 · Updated 2024-08-04

Key facts

Attack vector: Local
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Attack complexity: Low
Impact type: Code execution
Confidentiality · integrity · availability: High · High · High
Fix status: Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-502.

Summary

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions TensorFlow and Keras can be tricked to perform arbitrary code execution when deserializing a Keras model from YAML format. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/460e000de3a83278fb00b61a16d161b1964f15f4/tensorflow/python/keras/saving/model_config.py#L66-L104) uses `yaml.unsafe_load` which can perform arbitrary code execution on the input. Given that YAML format support requires a significant amount of work, we have removed it for now. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 23d6383eb6c14084a8fc3bdf164043b974818012. 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.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00447 39th percentileScored 2026-11-07

Fix Fixed tensorflow (tensorflow): 2.5.1, 2.4.3, 2.3.4tensorflow (PyPI): 2.3.4, 2.4.3, 2.5.1+2 more products

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

Vendor	Product	Affected versions	Fixed in	Status	Source
Google	tensorflow	2.5.0 to before 2.5.1; 2.4.0 to before 2.4.3; before 2.3.4	2.5.1, 2.4.3, 2.3.4	Patch available	CNA
—	tensorflow (PyPI)	before 2.3.4	2.3.4	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow (PyPI)	2.4.0 to before 2.4.3	2.4.3	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow (PyPI)	2.5.0 to before 2.5.1	2.5.1	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow-cpu (PyPI)	before 2.3.4	2.3.4	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow-cpu (PyPI)	2.4.0 to before 2.4.3	2.4.3	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow-cpu (PyPI)	2.5.0 to before 2.5.1	2.5.1	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow-gpu (PyPI)	before 2.3.4	2.3.4	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow-gpu (PyPI)	2.4.0 to before 2.4.3	2.4.3	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
—	tensorflow-gpu (PyPI)	2.5.0 to before 2.5.1	2.5.1	Patch available	GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r

tensorflow VendorGoogle Affected 2.5.0 to before 2.5.1; 2.4.0 to before 2.4.3; before 2.3.4 Fixed in 2.5.1, 2.4.3, 2.3.4 Patch available CNA
tensorflow (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 2.3.4 Fixed in 2.3.4 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 2.4.0 to before 2.4.3 Fixed in 2.4.3 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 2.5.0 to before 2.5.1 Fixed in 2.5.1 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow-cpu (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 2.3.4 Fixed in 2.3.4 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow-cpu (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 2.4.0 to before 2.4.3 Fixed in 2.4.3 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow-cpu (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 2.5.0 to before 2.5.1 Fixed in 2.5.1 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow-gpu (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 2.3.4 Fixed in 2.3.4 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow-gpu (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 2.4.0 to before 2.4.3 Fixed in 2.4.3 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r
tensorflow-gpu (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 2.5.0 to before 2.5.1 Fixed in 2.5.1 Patch available GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r

CPE configurations NVD · 5

CPE	Versions	Role	Vendor
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow::::::::	2.3.0 to before 2.3.4; 2.4.0 to before 2.4.3	Vulnerable	Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.5.0:::::::*	2.5.0	Vulnerable	Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.6.0:rc0::::::	2.6.0 rc0	Vulnerable	Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.6.0:rc1::::::	2.6.0 rc1	Vulnerable	Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.6.0:rc2::::::	2.6.0 rc2	Vulnerable	Google

cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.3.0 to before 2.3.4; 2.4.0 to before 2.4.3 Vulnerable ·Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.5.0 Vulnerable ·Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.6.0:rc0:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.6.0 rc0 Vulnerable ·Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.6.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.6.0 rc1 Vulnerable ·Google
cpe:2.3:a:google:tensorflow:2.6.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.6.0 rc2 Vulnerable ·Google

Remediation

Fix · CNA tensorflow (tensorflow) Fixed in 2.5.1, 2.4.3, 2.3.4
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow (PyPI) Fixed in 2.3.4 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow (PyPI) Fixed in 2.4.3 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow (PyPI) Fixed in 2.5.1 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow-cpu (PyPI) Fixed in 2.3.4 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow-cpu (PyPI) Fixed in 2.4.3 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow-cpu (PyPI) Fixed in 2.5.1 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow-gpu (PyPI) Fixed in 2.3.4 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow-gpu (PyPI) Fixed in 2.4.3 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r tensorflow-gpu (PyPI) Fixed in 2.5.1 Advisory →

Timeline

2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-37678
2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-r6jx-9g48-2r5r

References

Patch 1

https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/23d6383eb6c14084a8fc3bdf164043b974818012

Advisory 2

Other 7

TI-2022-20241 FractionalMaxPool and FractionalAVGPool heap out-of-bounds acess in Tensorflow CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2022-07640 Integer overflow in Tensorflow CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2022-07627 Out of bounds read and write in Tensorflow CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
TI-2022-07619 Out of bounds write in Tensorflow CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
TI-2022-07613 Read and Write outside of bounds in TFLite CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
TI-2022-07612 Integer overflow in TFLite CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8

See all 430 →

Sources

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