Buffer overflow in TensorFlow and nginx - CVE-2020-15196

 

Buffer overflow in TensorFlow and nginx - CVE-2020-15196

Published: September 25, 2020 / Updated: June 28, 2025


Vulnerability identifier: #VU47276
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:U/U:Amber
CVE-ID: CVE-2020-15196
CWE-ID: CWE-119
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available
Vendor: TensorFlow
F5 Networks
Affected software:
TensorFlow
nginx

Detailed vulnerability description

The vulnerability allows a remote authenticated user to execute arbitrary code.

In Tensorflow version 2.3.0, the `SparseCountSparseOutput` and `RaggedCountSparseOutput` implementations don't validate that the `weights` tensor has the same shape as the data. The check exists for `DenseCountSparseOutput`, where both tensors are fully specified. In the sparse and ragged count weights are still accessed in parallel with the data. But, since there is no validation, a user passing fewer weights than the values for the tensors can generate a read from outside the bounds of the heap buffer allocated for the weights. The issue is patched in commit 3cbb917b4714766030b28eba9fb41bb97ce9ee02 and is released in TensorFlow version 2.3.1.


How to mitigate CVE-2020-15196

Install update from vendor's website.

Sources