CVE-2021-37652 (published 2021-08-12T22:15Z)

TensorFlow is an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the implementation for `tf.raw_ops.BoostedTreesCreateEnsemble` can result in a use after free error if an attacker supplies specially crafted arguments. The [implementation](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/f24faa153ad31a4b51578f8181d3aaab77a1ddeb/tensorflow/core/kernels/boosted_trees/resource_ops.cc#L55) uses a reference counted resource and decrements the refcount if the initialization fails, as it should. However, when the code was written, the resource was represented as a naked pointer but later refactoring has changed it to be a smart pointer. Thus, when the pointer leaves the scope, a subsequent `free`-ing of the resource occurs, but this fails to take into account that the refcount has already reached 0, thus the resource has been already freed. During this double-free process, members of the resource object are accessed for cleanup but they are invalid as the entire resource has been freed. We have patched the issue in GitHub commit 5ecec9c6fbdbc6be03295685190a45e7eee726ab. The fix will be included in TensorFlow 2.6.0. We will also cherrypick this commit on TensorFlow 2.5.1, TensorFlow 2.4.3, and TensorFlow 2.3.4, as these are also affected and still in supported range.

Severity: MEDIUM
CVSS v2 base score: 4.6 (AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)
CVSS v3 base score: 7.8, HIGH (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Weakness information:
cwe_id: CWE-415
cwe_name: Double Free
description: The product calls free() twice on the same memory address, potentially leading to modification of unexpected memory locations.
extended_description: When a program calls free() twice with the same argument, the program's memory management data structures become corrupted. This corruption can cause the program to crash or, in some circumstances, cause two later calls to malloc() to return the same pointer. If malloc() returns the same value twice and the program later gives the attacker control over the data that is written into this doubly-allocated memory, the program becomes vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack.
         

Fix information:
repo_url: https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow
commit_details: repo_url: https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow
author: Mihai Maruseac
author_date: 2021-07-30 19:13:19-07:00
msg: Prevent use after free.

A very old version of the code used `result` as a simple pointer to a resource. Two years later, the pointer got changed to a `unique_ptr` but author forgot to remove the call to `Unref`. Three years after that, we finally uncover the UAF.

PiperOrigin-RevId: 387924872
Change-Id: I70fb6f199164de49fac20c168132a07b84903f9b
repository: repo_url: https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow
repo_name: tensorflow/tensorflow
description: An Open Source Machine Learning Framework for Everyone
repo_language: C++
owner: tensorflow
file_changes: filename: resource_ops.cc
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ class BoostedTreesCreateEnsembleOp : public OpKernel {
     if (!result->InitFromSerialized(
             tree_ensemble_serialized_t->scalar<tstring>()(), stamp_token)) {
       result->Unref();
+      result.release();  // Needed due to the `->Unref` above, to prevent UAF
       OP_REQUIRES(
           context, false,
           errors::InvalidArgument("Unable to parse tree ensemble proto."));

programming_language: C++