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Incomplete validation in boosted trees code

Critical severity GitHub Reviewed Published Nov 4, 2021 in tensorflow/tensorflow • Updated Feb 1, 2023

Package

pip tensorflow (pip)

Affected versions

>= 2.6.0, < 2.6.1
>= 2.5.0, < 2.5.2
< 2.4.4

Patched versions

2.6.1
2.5.2
2.4.4
pip tensorflow-cpu (pip)
>= 2.6.0, < 2.6.1
>= 2.5.0, < 2.5.2
< 2.4.4
2.6.1
2.5.2
2.4.4
pip tensorflow-gpu (pip)
>= 2.6.0, < 2.6.1
>= 2.5.0, < 2.5.2
< 2.4.4
2.6.1
2.5.2
2.4.4

Description

Impact

The code for boosted trees in TensorFlow is still missing validation. As a result, attackers can trigger denial of service (via dereferencing nullptrs or via CHECK-failures) as well as abuse undefined behavior (binding references to nullptrs). 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.

Note: Given that the boosted trees implementation in TensorFlow is unmaintained, it is recommend to no longer use these APIs. Instead, please use the downstream TensorFlow Decision Forests project which is newer and supports more features. We will deprecate TensorFlow's boosted trees APIs in subsequent releases.

Patches

We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 5c8c9a8bfe750f9743d0c859bae112060b216f5c.

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.

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 members of the Aivul Team from Qihoo 360.

References

@mihaimaruseac mihaimaruseac published to tensorflow/tensorflow Nov 4, 2021
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Nov 5, 2021
Reviewed Nov 8, 2021
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Nov 10, 2021
Last updated Feb 1, 2023

Severity

Critical

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

0.044%
(13th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2021-41208

GHSA ID

GHSA-57wx-m983-2f88

Source code

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