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NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2026-44289: protobufjs: Denial of service through unbounded protobuf recursion

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 30/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.63% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 50.6% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • Fixed version: protobufjs protobuf.js 7.5.6.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to protobufjs protobuf.js 7.5.6 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

protobufjs compiles protobuf definitions into JavaScript (JS) functions. Prior to 7.5.6 and 8.0.2, protobufjs could recurse without a depth limit while decoding nested protobuf data. This affected both skipping unknown group fields and generated decoding of nested message fields. A crafted protobuf binary payload could cause the JavaScript call stack to be exhausted during decoding. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.5.6 and 8.0.2.

Published
May 13, 2026
Updated
Nov 11, 2026
EPSS
0.6% · 50th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

30

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.6%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · GitHub_M
7.5
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

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When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
protobufjs projectprotobufjs

Is the protobufjs on your site affected?

The free JavaScript library scanner reads the protobufjs version from the files your site loads, matches this record and other known vulnerabilities, and gives the safe version on the same branch. If the version can't be read, it says so. No account needed.

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Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • protobufjs protobuf.js

    • < 7.5.6, >= 8.0.0, < 8.0.2affected

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • protobufjs project protobufjsbefore 7.5.6
  • protobufjs project protobufjs8.0.0 and later · before 8.0.2

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
npmprotobufjsfrom 8.0.0 · before 8.0.28.0.2
npmprotobufjsbefore 7.5.67.5.6

Same product

protobufjs project: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2023-36665"protobuf.js (aka protobufjs) 6.10.0 through 7.x before 7.2.5 allows Prototype Pollution, a different vulnerability than CVE-2022-25878.
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-41242protobufjs has an arbitrary code execution issue
    37Monitor
  • CVE-2026-44291protobufjs: Code generation gadget after prototype pollution
    32Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2022-25878May 27, 2022 · The package protobufjs before 6.11.3 are vulnerable to Prototype Pollution which can allow an attacker to add/modify properties of the…
    31Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-44288May 13, 2026 · protobufjs: Overlong UTF-8 decoding
    21Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-44290May 13, 2026 · protobufjs: Process-wide denial of service through unsafe option paths
    30Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
protobufjs protobuf.js7.5.6 · descriptionVendor (CNA)
npm:protobufjs7.5.6Package registry (OSV)
npm:protobufjs8.0.2Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

  • CVE-2026-457400 days apartprotobufjs: Denial of Service via unbounded recursive JSON descriptor expansion
    30Monitor
  • CVE-2026-4871240 days apartprotobufjs: Denial of service through unbounded Any expansion during JSON conversion
    30Monitor
  • CVE-2026-5426940 days apartprotobufjs: Schema-derived names can shadow runtime-significant properties
    21Monitor

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-674 · Uncontrolled Recursion

CVSS vector

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

nvd-secondary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

References

Show all references (5 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records