protobufjs: Denial of service from crafted field names in generated code
Priority LOW 30CWE-20Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · Low
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 9 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 generated JavaScript property accessors from schema-controlled field and oneof names. Certain control characters in field names were not escaped before being embedded into generated function bodies. A crafted schema or JSON descriptor could therefore cause generated encode, decode, verify, or conversion functions to fail during compilation. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.5.6 and 8.0.2.
Why it matters now
Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00431 37th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial protobuf.js (protobufjs): 7.5.6, 8.0.2protobufjs (npm): 7.5.6, 8.0.2Red Hat: 9 without a fix
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-2pr8-phx7-x9h3 |
| — | protobufjs (npm) | 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 | 8.0.2 | Patch available | GHSA-2pr8-phx7-x9h3 |
- 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-2pr8-phx7-x9h3
- protobufjs (npm) Vendor— Affected 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2 Fixed in 8.0.2 Patch available GHSA-2pr8-phx7-x9h3
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-2pr8-phx7-x9h3 protobufjs (npm) Fixed in 7.5.6 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-2pr8-phx7-x9h3 protobufjs (npm) Fixed in 8.0.2 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Cryostat 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Pipelines | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| 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 |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 9 products
- OpenShift Pipelines
- OpenShift Service Mesh 3
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
- Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Hardened Images
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
- Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-44294
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-2pr8-phx7-x9h3
- 2026-10-27 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-06 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-2026-44294 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-44294 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-2pr8-phx7-x9h3 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-44294 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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