vulnerability / NVI-00016256 / Revision 1
protobufjs: Denial of Service via infinite loop in .proto option parsing
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for protobufjs, protobufjs. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
5.3 medium
GitHub source severity; exploitability and local consequence require separate evidence.
As of · GitHub Advisory Database
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
protobufjs
source listed>= 7.5.0, <= 7.6.4
## Summary protobufjs parsed option names by advancing through schema tokens until it reached an `=` token, without checking for end of input. A crafted `.proto` schema that opens an option declaration but ends prematurely could cause the option parser to loop without ever terminating. This affects the reflection parsing path (`parse`, `Root.load`, `Root.loadSync`). ## Impact An attacker who can provide or influence `.proto` schema text parsed by an application may be able to cause the parsing call to never return. Because Node.js is single-threaded, the blocked event loop prevents all other work in the process, resulting in a denial of service that persists until the process is externally terminated. Applications that only encode or decode protobuf binary data with trusted schemas are not directly affected. ## Preconditions - The application must parse `.proto` schema text influenced by an attacker. - The schema must be parsed through APIs such as `parse`, `Root.load`, or `Root.loadSync`. - The crafted input must begin an option declaration that ends before its `=` assignment. ## Workarounds Do not parse `.proto` schemas from untrusted sources with affected versions. If u
protobufjs
source listed>= 8.0.0, <= 8.6.5
## Summary protobufjs parsed option names by advancing through schema tokens until it reached an `=` token, without checking for end of input. A crafted `.proto` schema that opens an option declaration but ends prematurely could cause the option parser to loop without ever terminating. This affects the reflection parsing path (`parse`, `Root.load`, `Root.loadSync`). ## Impact An attacker who can provide or influence `.proto` schema text parsed by an application may be able to cause the parsing call to never return. Because Node.js is single-threaded, the blocked event loop prevents all other work in the process, resulting in a denial of service that persists until the process is externally terminated. Applications that only encode or decode protobuf binary data with trusted schemas are not directly affected. ## Preconditions - The application must parse `.proto` schema text influenced by an attacker. - The schema must be parsed through APIs such as `parse`, `Root.load`, or `Root.loadSync`. - The crafted input must begin an option declaration that ends before its `=` assignment. ## Workarounds Do not parse `.proto` schemas from untrusted sources with affected versions. If u
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
Confirm current vendor support, compatibility and deployment evidence. This report has not tested a fix in your system. GitHub Advisory Database
A fixed release is not deployment evidence.
Check current vendor support and compatibility. After making a change, verify the deployed build and relevant runtime conditions. Keep the evidence, owner and time. An updated lockfile alone does not prove what is running.
04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
Each assertion retains its source. Mirrored records may repeat one underlying publisher; additional links are not independent corroboration.
- GHSA-j3f2-48v5-ccww ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
Observed . GitHub Advisory Database; CC-BY-4.0. Each advisory links its original attribution. Null normalizes fields.
Public revision history
Only published revisions appear here. Routine fetches do not create a material-change event.
- Revision 1 ·
First indexed by Null; source disclosure date is shown separately.