What is CVE-2021-41208?

CVE-2021-41208 is a high-severity vulnerability in Google Tensorflow, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2021-11-05.

How severe is CVE-2021-41208?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2021-41208 known to be exploited?

2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

NULL pointer dereference in Google Tensorflow

CVE-2021-41208

TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. In affected versions the code for boosted trees in TensorFlow is still missing validation. As a result, attackers can trigger denial of service (via dereferencing `nullptr`s or via `CHECK`-failures) as well as abuse undefined behavior (binding references to `nullptr`s). 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. Given that the boosted trees implementation in TensorFlow is unmaintained, it is recommend to no longer use these APIs. We will deprecate TensorFlow's boosted trees APIs in subsequent releases. 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.

Published 2021-11-05 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (6.1th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 6.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Google Tensorflow — versions 2.7.0
Tensorflow — versions >= 2.6.0, < 2.6.1, >= 2.5.0, < 2.5.2, < 2.4.4

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/security/advisories/GHSA-57wx-m983-2f88 (Third Party Advisory)
github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/commit/5c8c9a8bfe750f9743d0c859bae112060b216f5c (Patch, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-41208?: CVE-2021-41208 is a high-severity vulnerability in Google Tensorflow, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2021-11-05.
How severe is CVE-2021-41208?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2021-41208 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.