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.
Published: 2026-05-13
Score: 5.3 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

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Tracking

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-q6x5-8v7m-xcrf protobufjs has overlong UTF-8 decoding
History

Thu, 14 May 2026 14:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Protobuf
Protobuf protobuf
Vendors & Products Protobuf
Protobuf protobuf

Wed, 13 May 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

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


Wed, 13 May 2026 15:15:00 +0000

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'}


Subscriptions

Protobuf Protobuf
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-13T18:33:51.296Z

Reserved: 2026-05-05T17:39:31.112Z

Link: CVE-2026-44288

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-05-13T18:33:46.801Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2026-05-13T16:16:55.587

Modified: 2026-05-13T17:01:38.423

Link: CVE-2026-44288

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-14T14:30:15Z

Weaknesses