CVE-2021-29609Public exploit

Process memory corruption via malformed sparse tensors

Published May 14, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Out-of-bounds write in SparseAdd in affected Google TensorFlow releases allows local users to corrupt process memory via malformed tensors. SparseAdd fails to reject empty shape tensors or indices whose second dimension differs from the matching shape size, permitting null dereference and heap writes outside allocated bounds. Exploitation requires the ability to execute a crafted TensorFlow operation locally; outcomes are bounded to process memory corruption or a crash.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.23%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Out-of-bounds write in SparseAdd in affected Google TensorFlow releases allows local users to corrupt process memory via malformed tensors. SparseAdd fails to reject empty shape tensors or indices whose second dimension differs from the matching shape size, permitting null dereference and heap writes outside allocated bounds. Exploitation requires the ability to execute a crafted TensorFlow operation locally; outcomes are bounded to process memory corruption or a crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-29609
Published
May 14, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Google
Product
TensorFlow
Classifications
CWE-665, CWE-476, CWE-787
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 14, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 2.1.4
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.3
  3. Affected versionversion=>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.3
  4. Affected versionversion=>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Google · TensorFlowversion=< 2.1.4; version=>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.3; version=>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.3; version=>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.2

Published CVSS scores

4.6NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
5.3GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-665Improper Initialization
CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
CWE-787Out-of-bounds Write

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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