CVE-2026-44288

protobufjs: Overlong UTF-8 decoding

MEDIUM
5.3
CVSS Score
Published: May 13, 2026 at 02:37 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 10:50 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorProtobufjs

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Severity
MEDIUM5.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 7.5.6v < 8.0.28.0.0 ≤ v < 8.0.2
Affected range stops below 7.5.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 8.0.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (1)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

5.3MEDIUMGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-176

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