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Security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVCVE: CVE-2021-41208

TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the code for boosted trees in TensorFlow is still missing validation. As a result, attackers can trigger denial of service (via dereferencing `nullptr`s or via `CHECK`-failures) as well as abuse undefined behavior (binding references to `nullptr`s). An attacker can also read and write from heap buffers, depending on the API that gets used and the arguments that are passed to the call. Given that the boosted trees implementation in TensorFlow is unmaintained, it is recommend to no longer use these APIs. We will deprecate TensorFlow's boosted trees APIs in subsequent releases. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.7.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.6.1, TensorFlow 2.5.2, and TensorFlow 2.4.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2021-41208
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
31 Oct 2026, 12:39 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

CVE-2021-41208

core-osv · Original source

Published 5 Nov 2021, 22:15 UTC

TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the code for boosted trees in TensorFlow is still missing validation. As a result, attackers can trigger denial of service (via dereferencing `nullptr`s or via `CHECK`-failures) as well as abuse undefined behavior (binding references to `nullptr`s). An attacker can also read and write from heap buffers, depending on the API that gets used and the arguments that are passed to the call. Given that the boosted trees implementation in TensorFlow is unmaintained, it is recommend to no longer use these APIs. We will deprecate TensorFlow's boosted trees APIs in subsequent releases. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.7.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.6.1, TensorFlow 2.5.2, and TensorFlow 2.4.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

osv:CVE-2021-41208
Complete source record
{
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  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-41208",
  "method": "structured",
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    "title": "CVE-2021-41208",
    "summary": "TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the code for boosted trees in TensorFlow is still missing validation. As a result, attackers can trigger denial of service (via dereferencing `nullptr`s or via `CHECK`-failures) as well as abuse undefined behavior (binding references to `nullptr`s). An attacker can also read and write from heap buffers, depending on the API that gets used and the arguments that are passed to the call. Given that the boosted trees implementation in TensorFlow is unmaintained, it is recommend to no longer use these APIs. We will deprecate TensorFlow's boosted trees APIs in subsequent releases. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.7.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.6.1, TensorFlow 2.5.2, and TensorFlow 2.4.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2021-41208",
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    "severity": "high",
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      "aliases": [
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        "CVE-2021-41208",
        "GHSA-57wx-m983-2f88",
        "PYSEC-2021-400",
        "PYSEC-2021-617",
        "PYSEC-2021-815"
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      "modified": "2026-10-20T14:10:45.611872492Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-57wx-m983-2f88",
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  "source_id": "core-osv",
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  "published_at": "2021-11-05T22:15:08.533+00:00"
}