CVE-2026-44288

protobufjs: Overlong UTF-8 decoding

Published May 13, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 5.3 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
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.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf protobufjs has overlong UTF-8 decoding
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Protobufjs Project
Protobufjs Project protobufjs
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:protobufjs_project:protobufjs:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*
Vendors & Products Protobufjs Project
Protobufjs Project protobufjs
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Protobuf
Protobuf protobuf
Vendors & Products Protobuf
Protobuf protobuf
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description 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.
Title protobufjs: Overlong UTF-8 decoding
Weaknesses CWE-176
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
May 13, 2026, 6:33 PM
Reserved
May 5, 2026, 5:39 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
May 13, 2026, 4:16 PM
Modified
Nov 11, 2026, 8:10 PM