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Medium

Security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVCVE: CVE-2021-29552

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. An attacker can cause a denial of service by controlling the values of `num_segments` tensor argument for `UnsortedSegmentJoin`. This is because the implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/a2a607db15c7cd01d754d37e5448d72a13491bdb/tensorflow/core/kernels/unsorted_segment_join_op.cc#L92-L93) assumes that the `num_segments` tensor is a valid scalar. Since the tensor is empty the `CHECK` involved in `.scalar()()` that checks that the number of elements is exactly 1 will be invalidated and this would result in process termination. 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.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
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Fixed versions
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CVEs
CVE-2021-29552
Confirmed fixed CVEs
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Updated in this feed
31 Oct 2026, 12:41 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

CVE-2021-29552

core-osv · Original source

Published 14 May 2021, 20:15 UTC

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. An attacker can cause a denial of service by controlling the values of `num_segments` tensor argument for `UnsortedSegmentJoin`. This is because the implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/a2a607db15c7cd01d754d37e5448d72a13491bdb/tensorflow/core/kernels/unsorted_segment_join_op.cc#L92-L93) assumes that the `num_segments` tensor is a valid scalar. Since the tensor is empty the `CHECK` involved in `.scalar()()` that checks that the number of elements is exactly 1 will be invalidated and this would result in process termination. 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.

osv:CVE-2021-29552
Complete source record
{
  "id": "df8f2242a08a0072d593ac0447c0d97b098bf7fd61e754b3bd6611cf1e17966d",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-29552",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "CVE-2021-29552",
    "summary": "TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. An attacker can cause a denial of service by controlling the values of `num_segments` tensor argument for `UnsortedSegmentJoin`. This is because the implementation(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/a2a607db15c7cd01d754d37e5448d72a13491bdb/tensorflow/core/kernels/unsorted_segment_join_op.cc#L92-L93) assumes that the `num_segments` tensor is a valid scalar. Since the tensor is empty the `CHECK` involved in `.scalar()()` that checks that the number of elements is exactly 1 will be invalidated and this would result in process termination. 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.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2021-29552",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2021-29552",
      "aliases": [
        "BIT-tensorflow-2021-29552",
        "CVE-2021-29552",
        "GHSA-jhq9-wm9m-cf89",
        "PYSEC-2021-189",
        "PYSEC-2021-480",
        "PYSEC-2021-678"
      ],
      "metrics": [
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          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
        }
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      "affected": [
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                  "fixed": "0931ea3d985bb9c8fdd054a5e29c4129623c849b"
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                {
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                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
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                  {
                    "range": [
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                        "fixed": "704866eabe03a9aeda044ec91a8d0c83fc1ebdbe"
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                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
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            "v2.2.2",
            "v2.3.2",
            "v2.4.1",
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            "0.5.0"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2021-29552.json",
            "vanir_signatures": [
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                "source": "https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/704866eabe03a9aeda044ec91a8d0c83fc1ebdbe",
                "target": {
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                "signature_type": "Line",
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            "vanir_signatures_modified": "2026-10-20T14:11:03Z"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-20T14:11:03.104253109Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/704866eabe03a9aeda044ec91a8d0c83fc1ebdbe",
        "https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-jhq9-wm9m-cf89"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {}
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    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2021-29552",
        "evidence": "/id"
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    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 388702,
  "published_at": "2021-05-14T20:15:13.07+00:00"
}