protobufjs: Overlong UTF-8 decoding
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 13 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat.
Summary
protobufjs compiles protobuf definitions into JavaScript (JS) functions. Prior to 7.5.6 and 8.0.2, protobufjs includes a minimal UTF-8 decoder that accepted overlong UTF-8 byte sequences and decoded them to their canonical characters instead of replacing them. An attacker who can provide protobuf binary data decoded through the affected UTF-8 path may be able to bypass application-level checks that inspect raw bytes before protobuf string decoding. For example, bytes that do not contain certain ASCII characters could decode to strings containing those characters. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.5.6 and 8.0.2.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
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 | before 7.5.6; 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 | 7.5.6, 8.0.2 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | protobufjs (npm) | before 7.5.6 | 7.5.6 | Patch available | GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf |
| — | protobufjs (npm) | 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 | 8.0.2 | Patch available | GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf |
| — | @protobufjs/utf8 (npm) | before 1.1.1 | 1.1.1 | Patch available | GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf |
- protobuf.js Vendorprotobufjs Affected before 7.5.6; 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 Fixed in 7.5.6, 8.0.2 Patch available CNA
- protobufjs (npm) Vendor— Affected before 7.5.6 Fixed in 7.5.6 Patch available GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf
- protobufjs (npm) Vendor— Affected 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 Fixed in 8.0.2 Patch available GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf
- @protobufjs/utf8 (npm) Vendor— Affected before 1.1.1 Fixed in 1.1.1 Patch available GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:protobufjs_project:protobufjs:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* | before 7.5.6; 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 | Vulnerable | protobufjs |
- cpe:2.3:a:protobufjs_project:protobufjs:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* Versions before 7.5.6; 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 Vulnerable ·protobufjs
Remediation
- Fix · CNA protobuf.js (protobufjs) Fixed in 7.5.6, 8.0.2
- Fix · GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf protobufjs (npm) Fixed in 7.5.6 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf protobufjs (npm) Fixed in 8.0.2 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf @protobufjs/utf8 (npm) Fixed in 1.1.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| OpenShift Pipelines | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Service Mesh 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Hardened Images
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-44288
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf
- 2026-10-27 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Advisory 2
More Protobufjs vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-29851 protobufjs has an arbitrary code execution issue CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.4
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2026-44288 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-44288 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-44288 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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