CVE-2022-21732

Memory exhaustion in Tensorflow

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Attribution

This vulnerability has been reported by Yu Tian of Qihoo 360 AIVul Team.

The implementation of ThreadPoolHandle can be used to trigger a denial of service attack by allocating too much memory:

import tensorflow as tf
y = tf.raw_ops.ThreadPoolHandle(num_threads=0x60000000,display_name='tf')

This is because the num_threads argument is only checked to not be negative, but there is no upper bound on its value.

Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.

CVE-2022-21732 has a CVSS score of 4.3 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (2.5.3, 2.6.3, 2.7.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

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We have patched the issue in GitHub commit e3749a6d5d1e8d11806d4a2e9cc3123d1a90b75e.

The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.8.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.7.1, TensorFlow 2.6.3, and TensorFlow 2.5.3, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

1. What is CVE-2022-21732? CVE-2022-21732 is a medium-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in tensorflow (pip), affecting versions < 2.5.3. It is fixed in 2.5.3, 2.6.3, 2.7.1. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
2. How severe is CVE-2022-21732? CVE-2022-21732 has a CVSS score of 4.3 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-21732?
   • tensorflow (pip) (versions < 2.5.3)
   • tensorflow-cpu (pip) (versions < 2.5.3)
   • tensorflow-gpu (pip) (versions < 2.5.3)
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2022-21732? Yes. CVE-2022-21732 is fixed in 2.5.3, 2.6.3, 2.7.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2022-21732 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-21732 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2022-21732 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2022-21732?
   • Upgrade tensorflow to 2.5.3 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow to 2.6.3 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow to 2.7.1 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow-cpu to 2.5.3 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow-cpu to 2.6.3 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow-cpu to 2.7.1 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow-gpu to 2.5.3 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow-gpu to 2.6.3 or later
   • Upgrade tensorflow-gpu to 2.7.1 or later

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