protobuf-cpp and protobuf-python have potential Denial of Service issue
Summary
A message parsing and memory management vulnerability in ProtocolBuffer’s C++ and Python implementations can trigger an out of memory (OOM) failure when processing a specially crafted message, which could lead to a denial of service (DoS) on services using the libraries.
Reporter: ClusterFuzz
Affected versions: All versions of C++ Protobufs (including Python) prior to the versions listed below.
Severity & Impact
As scored by google
Medium 5.7 - CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Asscored byt NIST
High 7.5 - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
A small (~500 KB) malicious payload can be constructed which causes the running service to allocate more than 3GB of RAM.
Proof of Concept
For reproduction details, please refer to the unit test that identifies the specific inputs that exercise this parsing weakness.
Mitigation / Patching
Please update to the latest available versions of the following packages:
- protobuf-cpp (3.18.3, 3.19.5, 3.20.2, 3.21.6)
- protobuf-python (3.18.3, 3.19.5, 3.20.2, 4.21.6)
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | protobuf | < 3.18.3, >= 3.19.0, < 3.19.5, >= 3.20.0, < 3.20.2, >= 4.0.0, < 4.21.6 | 3.18.3, 3.19.5, 3.20.2, 4.21.6 |
References
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-8gq9-2x98-w8hf
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-1941
- https://cloud.google.com/support/bulletins#GCP-2022-019
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/04/msg00019.html
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CBAUKJQL6O4TIWYBENORSY5P43TVB4M3
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MPCGUT3T5L6C3IDWUPSUO22QDCGQKTOP
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CBAUKJQL6O4TIWYBENORSY5P43TVB4M3
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MPCGUT3T5L6C3IDWUPSUO22QDCGQKTOP
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240705-0001
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/09/27/1
- https://pypi.org/project/protobuf
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-8gq9-2x98-w8hf
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-119, CWE-1286- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
protobuf- Disclosed
- 23.09.2022
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 13:19
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-899 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-8gq9-2x98-w8hf - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: protobuf
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 5
- First → latest
- 09.2017 01.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- High 5
Disclosures per year
- 2017: 1
- 2018: 0
- 2019: 0
- 2020: 0
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 2
- 2023: 0
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 1
- 2026: 1
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protobuf-cpp and protobuf-python have potential Denial of Service issue this entry
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