CVE-2022-23575 — MEDIUM (CVSS 6.5) AI Security Vulnerability

CISO Take

TensorFlow's graph optimizer (Grappler) is vulnerable to a DoS via integer overflow when processing crafted tensor operations with excessively large element counts. Any TF serving endpoint accepting user-submitted models or operations is at risk of crash-looping. Patch to TF 2.8.0 / 2.7.1 / 2.6.3 / 2.5.3 immediately; in the interim, restrict who can submit operations to your TF infrastructure.

Risk Assessment

Medium operational risk. CVSS 6.5 reflects network-accessible, low-complexity exploitation requiring only low-privilege access — no user interaction needed. The blast radius is limited to availability (A:H); no confidentiality or integrity impact. Risk escalates significantly in multi-tenant or API-exposed TF environments (e.g., TF Serving, Vertex AI custom containers) where uptime SLAs exist or where crashing the optimizer would abort training runs. Not in CISA KEV and not observed in active exploitation.

Affected Systems

Package	Ecosystem	Vulnerable Range	Patched
tensorflow	pip	—	No patch
195.0K OpenSSF 7.2 3.7K dependents Pushed 6d ago 4% patched ~1372d to patch Full package profile →

Do you use tensorflow? You're affected.

Severity & Risk

CVSS 3.1

6.5 / 10

EPSS

0.2%

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Higher than 44% of all CVEs

Source: EPSS v3 — FIRST.org

Exploitation Status

Exploit Available

Exploitation: MEDIUM

Sophistication

Moderate

Exploitation Confidence

medium

○ Public PoC indexed (trickest/cve)

Composite signal derived from CISA KEV, CISA SSVC, EPSS, trickest/cve, and Nuclei templates.

Attack Surface

AV Network

AC Low

PR Low

UI None

S Unchanged

C None

I None

A High

Recommended Action

5 steps

PATCH

Upgrade to TensorFlow 2.8.0, 2.7.1, 2.6.3, or 2.5.3 (all contain the fix from commit fcd18ce).
ISOLATE

Restrict API access to TF Serving endpoints to authenticated, trusted clients only — enforce network segmentation if serving is internal.
VALIDATE INPUT

Add pre-submission checks on tensor shapes/sizes before graph optimization (reject ops with element counts approaching INT_MAX).
MONITOR

Alert on TF Serving process crashes or unexpected restarts, which may indicate exploit attempts.
CONTAINER RESTART POLICY

Ensure crash-restart policies are in place to limit DoS impact duration.

Classification

DoS Framework Inference AML.T0029 - Denial of AI Service AML.T0034 - Cost Harvesting AML.T0049 - Exploit Public-Facing Application

Compliance Impact

This CVE is relevant to:

EU AI Act

Article 15 - Accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity

ISO 42001

A.9.4 - Information security for AI systems

NIST AI RMF

MANAGE 2.2 - Mechanisms to sustain effectiveness of risk response

OWASP LLM Top 10

LLM05:2025 - Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-23575?

TensorFlow's graph optimizer (Grappler) is vulnerable to a DoS via integer overflow when processing crafted tensor operations with excessively large element counts. Any TF serving endpoint accepting user-submitted models or operations is at risk of crash-looping. Patch to TF 2.8.0 / 2.7.1 / 2.6.3 / 2.5.3 immediately; in the interim, restrict who can submit operations to your TF infrastructure.

Is CVE-2022-23575 actively exploited?

Proof-of-concept exploit code is publicly available for CVE-2022-23575, increasing the risk of exploitation.

How to fix CVE-2022-23575?

1. PATCH: Upgrade to TensorFlow 2.8.0, 2.7.1, 2.6.3, or 2.5.3 (all contain the fix from commit fcd18ce). 2. ISOLATE: Restrict API access to TF Serving endpoints to authenticated, trusted clients only — enforce network segmentation if serving is internal. 3. VALIDATE INPUT: Add pre-submission checks on tensor shapes/sizes before graph optimization (reject ops with element counts approaching INT_MAX). 4. MONITOR: Alert on TF Serving process crashes or unexpected restarts, which may indicate exploit attempts. 5. CONTAINER RESTART POLICY: Ensure crash-restart policies are in place to limit DoS impact duration.

What systems are affected by CVE-2022-23575?

This vulnerability affects the following AI/ML architecture patterns: model serving, training pipelines, ML platform APIs.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2022-23575?

CVE-2022-23575 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM). The EPSS exploitation probability is 0.22%.

Technical Details

NVD Description

Tensorflow is an Open Source Machine Learning Framework. The implementation of `OpLevelCostEstimator::CalculateTensorSize` is vulnerable to an integer overflow if an attacker can create an operation which would involve a tensor with large enough number of elements. 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.

Exploitation Scenario

An attacker with low-privilege API access to a TensorFlow Serving endpoint (e.g., a shared ML platform or internal inference API) crafts a SavedModel or operation request containing a tensor descriptor with a maliciously large shape — e.g., a single dimension set close to INT32_MAX. When TF's Grappler optimizer calls CalculateTensorSize on this operation during cost estimation, the product of dimensions overflows, producing an incorrect (small) tensor size. Depending on how the result is used, this can trigger a crash or undefined behavior that terminates the serving process. In an autoscaling environment, this can be repeated to exhaust restart budgets, causing sustained DoS.