Vulnerability-Lookup

CVE-2026-44288 (GCVE-0-2026-44288)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-05-13 14:37 – Updated: 2026-05-13 18:33

Title

protobufjs: Overlong UTF-8 decoding

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.

Severity ?

5.3 (Medium)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CWE

CWE-176 - Improper Handling of Unicode Encoding

Assigner

GitHub_M

References

1 reference

URL	Tags
https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/securit…	x_refsource_CONFIRM

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version
protobufjs	protobuf.js	Affected: < 7.5.6 Affected: >= 8.0.0, < 8.0.2

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

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FKIE_CVE-2026-44288

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-05-13 16:16 - Updated: 2026-05-19 20:46

Severity ?

5.3 (Medium) - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Summary

References

	URL	Tags
	security-advisories@github.com	https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/security/advisories/GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf	Vendor Advisory

Impacted products

	Vendor	Product	Version
	protobufjs_project	protobufjs	*
	protobufjs_project	protobufjs	*

JSON

To clipboard

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  "configurations": [
    {
      "nodes": [
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    }
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  "lastModified": "2026-05-19T20:46:53.323",
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GHSA-Q6X5-8V7M-XCRF

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-05-12 15:00 – Updated: 2026-05-14 20:35

Summary

protobufjs has overlong UTF-8 decoding

Details

Summary

protobufjs includes a minimal UTF-8 decoder used in non-Node and fallback decoding paths. The affected decoder accepted overlong UTF-8 byte sequences and decoded them to their canonical characters instead of replacing them.

The issue concerns overlong encodings and code points outside the Unicode range. protobufjs may still accept some non-strict UTF-8 input for compatibility, so applications should not rely on protobufjs as a general-purpose strict UTF-8 validator.

Impact

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.

The practical impact depends on downstream application validation and how decoded strings are used. Node.js Buffer-backed decoding paths are not directly affected when they use Node's native UTF-8 decoding.

Preconditions

The application must decode protobuf binary data influenced by an attacker.
The affected protobuf string field must be decoded through protobufjs's minimal UTF-8 decoder rather than a native UTF-8 decoder.
The application must rely on byte-level filtering or validation before protobuf string decoding.
The decoded string must then be used in a security-sensitive context.

Workarounds

Avoid relying only on byte-level filtering before protobuf string decoding with affected versions. Validate decoded strings at the point where they are used, and prefer runtime paths that use native UTF-8 decoding where necessary.

Severity ?

5.3 (Medium)


                  
                    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Show details on source website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 7.5.5"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "npm",
        "name": "protobufjs"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
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            }
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        }
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    },
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        }
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    },
    {
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        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 1.1.0"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "npm",
        "name": "@protobufjs/utf8"
      },
      "ranges": [
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          "events": [
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              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.1.1"
            }
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          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-44288"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-176"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-05-12T15:00:11Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-05-13T16:16:55Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "## Summary\n\nprotobufjs includes a minimal UTF-8 decoder used in non-Node and fallback decoding paths. The affected decoder accepted overlong UTF-8 byte sequences and decoded them to their canonical characters instead of replacing them.\n\nThe issue concerns overlong encodings and code points outside the Unicode range. protobufjs may still accept some non-strict UTF-8 input for compatibility, so applications should not rely on protobufjs as a general-purpose strict UTF-8 validator.\n\n## Impact\n\nAn 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.\n\nThe practical impact depends on downstream application validation and how decoded strings are used. Node.js Buffer-backed decoding paths are not directly affected when they use Node\u0027s native UTF-8 decoding.\n\n## Preconditions\n\n- The application must decode protobuf binary data influenced by an attacker.\n- The affected protobuf string field must be decoded through protobufjs\u0027s minimal UTF-8 decoder rather than a native UTF-8 decoder.\n- The application must rely on byte-level filtering or validation before protobuf string decoding.\n- The decoded string must then be used in a security-sensitive context.\n\n## Workarounds\n\nAvoid relying only on byte-level filtering before protobuf string decoding with affected versions. Validate decoded strings at the point where they are used, and prefer runtime paths that use native UTF-8 decoding where necessary.",
  "id": "GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf",
  "modified": "2026-05-14T20:35:04Z",
  "published": "2026-05-12T15:00:11Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/security/advisories/GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44288"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/releases/tag/protobufjs-v7.5.6"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/releases/tag/protobufjs-v8.0.2"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "protobufjs has overlong UTF-8 decoding"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

Action not permitted

CVE-2026-44288 (GCVE-0-2026-44288)

FKIE_CVE-2026-44288

GHSA-Q6X5-8V7M-XCRF

Summary

Impact

Preconditions

Workarounds

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature