CVE-2021-29531

CHECK-fail in tf.raw_ops.EncodePng

State
Published
Severity
2.5 Low
Published
May 14, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Reserved
Mar 30, 2021

Read the record on cve.org

Description

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. An attacker can trigger a `CHECK` fail in PNG encoding by providing an empty input tensor as the pixel data. This is because the implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/e312e0791ce486a80c9d23110841525c6f7c3289/tensorflow/core/kernels/image/encode_png_op.cc#L57-L60) only validates that the total number of pixels in the image does not overflow. Thus, an attacker can send an empty matrix for encoding. However, if the tensor is empty, then the associated buffer is `nullptr`. Hence, when calling `png::WriteImageToBuffer`(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/e312e0791ce486a80c9d23110841525c6f7c3289/tensorflow/core/kernels/image/encode_png_op.cc#L79-L93), the first argument (i.e., `image.flat<T>().data()`) is `NULL`. This then triggers the `CHECK_NOTNULL` in the first line of `png::WriteImageToBuffer`(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/e312e0791ce486a80c9d23110841525c6f7c3289/tensorflow/core/lib/png/png_io.cc#L345-L349). Since `image` is null, this results in `abort` being called after printing the stacktrace. Effectively, this allows an attacker to mount a denial of service attack. 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.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.12.5 LowCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:LGitHub_M

Weaknesses

  • CWE-754 Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions

Affected Products

ProductVersions
tensorflowtensorflow
  • < 2.1.4Affected
  • >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.3Affected
  • >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.3Affected
  • >= 2.4.0, < 2.4.2Affected

References

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