protobufjs has an arbitrary code execution issue
Priority HIGH 82CWE-94Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 fixed, 11 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-94.
Summary
protobufjs compiles protobuf definitions into JavaScript (JS) functions. In versions prior to 8.0.1, 7.5.5, and 6.11.6, attackers can inject arbitrary code in the "type" fields of protobuf definitions, which will then execute during object decoding using that definition. Versions 8.0.1, 7.5.5, and 6.11.6 patch the issue.
Why it matters now
Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00774 55th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Partial protobuf.js (protobufjs): 7.5.5, 8.0.1, 6.11.6protobufjs (npm): 8.0.1, 7.5.5, 6.11.6Red Hat: 6 advisoriesRed Hat: 5 fixed, 11 without a fix
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| protobufjs | protobuf.js | 7.0.0 to before 7.5.5; 8.0.0-experimental to before 8.0.1; before 6.11.6 | 7.5.5, 8.0.1, 6.11.6 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | protobufjs (npm) | 8.0.0 to before 8.0.1 | 8.0.1 | Patch available | GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg |
| — | protobufjs (npm) | 7.0.0 to before 7.5.5 | 7.5.5 | Patch available | GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg |
| — | protobufjs (npm) | before 6.11.6 | 6.11.6 | Patch available | GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg |
- protobuf.js Vendorprotobufjs Affected 7.0.0 to before 7.5.5; 8.0.0-experimental to before 8.0.1; before 6.11.6 Fixed in 7.5.5, 8.0.1, 6.11.6 Patch available CNA
- protobufjs (npm) Vendor— Affected 8.0.0 to before 8.0.1 Fixed in 8.0.1 Patch available GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg
- protobufjs (npm) Vendor— Affected 7.0.0 to before 7.5.5 Fixed in 7.5.5 Patch available GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg
- protobufjs (npm) Vendor— Affected before 6.11.6 Fixed in 6.11.6 Patch available GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg
CPE configurations NVD · 2
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:protobufjs_project:protobufjs:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* | before 7.5.5 | Vulnerable | protobufjs |
| cpe:2.3:a:protobufjs_project:protobufjs:8.0.0:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* | 8.0.0 | Vulnerable | protobufjs |
- cpe:2.3:a:protobufjs_project:protobufjs:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* Versions before 7.5.5 Vulnerable ·protobufjs
- cpe:2.3:a:protobufjs_project:protobufjs:8.0.0:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* Versions 8.0.0 Vulnerable ·protobufjs
Remediation
- Fix · CNA protobuf.js (protobufjs) Fixed in 7.5.5, 8.0.1, 6.11.6
- Fix · GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg protobufjs (npm) Fixed in 8.0.1 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg protobufjs (npm) Fixed in 7.5.5 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg protobufjs (npm) Fixed in 6.11.6 Advisory →
Red Hat 6 advisories
- RHSA-2026:73987 Released 2026-09-30 · Red Hat rating CriticalRHOAI 3.3.7 - Red Hat OpenShift AI
- Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-built-in-detector-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-data-science-pipelines-argo-argoexec-rhel9 +47
- RHSA-2026:62260 Released 2026-09-01 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30.0 Release.
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 registry.redhat.io/devspaces/code-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/configbump-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/dashboard-rhel9 +7
- RHSA-2026:37275 Released 2026-07-09 · Red Hat rating CriticalRHOAI 3.3.5 - Red Hat OpenShift AI
- Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-data-science-pipelines-operator-controller-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-feast-operator-rhel9 +45
Show 3 more Red Hat advisories
- RHSA-2026:26234 Released 2026-06-16 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Developer Hub 1.9.5 release.
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-rhel9-operator
- RHSA-2026:24977 Released 2026-06-10 · Red Hat rating ImportantRHOAI 2.25.7 - Red Hat OpenShift AI
- Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-caikit-nlp-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-caikit-tgis-serving-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel9 +34
- RHSA-2026:21338 Released 2026-05-27 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Developer Hub 1.8.7 release.
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-rhel9-operator
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| OpenShift Pipelines | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:21338 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:26234 |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:24977 |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:37275, RHSA-2026:73987 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:62260 |
Not affected: 13 products
- Cryostat 4
- OpenShift Service Mesh 3
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat Hardened Images
- Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
- Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25
- Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-41242
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg
- 2026-10-07 Fix available: RHSA-2026:73987 · Red Hat
- 2026-10-24 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-27 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-03 Affected versions changed · CNA
- 2026-11-03 10 new references · CNA
- 2026-11-04 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 Fix available: npm/[email protected] · GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg
- 2026-11-04 10 new references · GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg
References
Patch 2
Other 13
- https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/commit/086916b4a52c9f73ce88956edbb38fc902e54bbf
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:21338
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24977
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26234
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:37275
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:62260
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-41242
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2459442
- https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/releases/tag/protobufjs-v7.5.5
- https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/releases/tag/protobufjs-v8.0.1
- https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/tree/v6.11.6
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-41242.json
- https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js
More Protobufjs vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-18481 "protobuf.js (aka protobufjs) 6.10.0 through 7.x before 7.2.5 allows Prototype Pollution… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-32260 protobufjs: Denial of service through unbounded protobuf recursion CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2022-09438 Prototype pollution in protobufjs CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.2
- TI-2026-42691 protobufjs: Denial of Service via infinite loop in .proto option parsing CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-35993 protobufjs: Denial of service through unbounded Any expansion during JSON conversion CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-32261 protobufjs: Process-wide denial of service through unsafe option paths CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-41242 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-41242 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-41242 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences