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Security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVCVE: CVE-2021-29614

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. The implementation of `tf.io.decode_raw` produces incorrect results and crashes the Python interpreter when combining `fixed_length` and wider datatypes. The implementation of the padded version(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc) is buggy due to a confusion about pointer arithmetic rules. First, the code computes(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L61) the width of each output element by dividing the `fixed_length` value to the size of the type argument. The `fixed_length` argument is also used to determine the size needed for the output tensor(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L63-L79). This is followed by reencoding code(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L85-L94). The erroneous code is the last line above: it is moving the `out_data` pointer by `fixed_length * sizeof(T)` bytes whereas it only copied at most `fixed_length` bytes from the input. This results in parts of the input not being decoded into the output. Furthermore, because the pointer advance is far wider than desired, this quickly leads to writing

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
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Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2021-29614
Confirmed fixed CVEs
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Updated in this feed
31 Oct 2026, 12:45 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

CVE-2021-29614

core-osv · Original source

Published 14 May 2021, 20:15 UTC

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. The implementation of `tf.io.decode_raw` produces incorrect results and crashes the Python interpreter when combining `fixed_length` and wider datatypes. The implementation of the padded version(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc) is buggy due to a confusion about pointer arithmetic rules. First, the code computes(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L61) the width of each output element by dividing the `fixed_length` value to the size of the type argument. The `fixed_length` argument is also used to determine the size needed for the output tensor(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L63-L79). This is followed by reencoding code(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L85-L94). The erroneous code is the last line above: it is moving the `out_data` pointer by `fixed_length * sizeof(T)` bytes whereas it only copied at most `fixed_length` bytes from the input. This results in parts of the input not being decoded into the output. Furthermore, because the pointer advance is far wider than desired, this quickly leads to writing

osv:CVE-2021-29614
Complete source record
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    "title": "CVE-2021-29614",
    "summary": "TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. The implementation of `tf.io.decode_raw` produces incorrect results and crashes the Python interpreter when combining `fixed_length` and wider datatypes. The implementation of the padded version(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc) is buggy due to a confusion about pointer arithmetic rules. First, the code computes(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L61) the width of each output element by dividing the `fixed_length` value to the size of the type argument. The `fixed_length` argument is also used to determine the size needed for the output tensor(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L63-L79). This is followed by reencoding code(https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/1d8903e5b167ed0432077a3db6e462daf781d1fe/tensorflow/core/kernels/decode_padded_raw_op.cc#L85-L94). The erroneous code is the last line above: it is moving the `out_data` pointer by `fixed_length * sizeof(T)` bytes whereas it only copied at most `fixed_length` bytes from the input. This results in parts of the input not being decoded into the output. Furthermore, because the pointer advance is far wider than desired, this quickly leads to writing ",
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