GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm

GHSA-jggg-4jg4-v7c6 protobufjs: Denial of Service via unbounded recursive JSON descriptor expansion

MEDIUM Published 2026-05-19 Modified 2026-05-19 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-45740
Ecosystem
npm
Packages
protobufjs
Severity
Moderate
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Weaknesses
CWE-674
Reviewed
2026-05-19

Affected packages

• npm protobufjs: < 7.5.8 → fixed in 7.5.8 • npm protobufjs: >= 8.0.0, < 8.2.0 → fixed in 8.2.0

Description

Summary protobufjs could recurse without a depth limit while expanding nested JSON descriptors through `Root.fromJSON()` and `Namespace.addJSON()`. A crafted JSON descriptor with deeply nested namespace definitions could cause the JavaScript call stack to be exhausted during descriptor loading. Impact An attacker who can provide JSON descriptors loaded by an application may be able to crash the process or otherwise cause schema loading to fail with a stack overflow. This affects applications that load JSON descriptors from untrusted sources with affected versions. Preconditions • The application must load JSON descriptor data influenced by an attacker. • The crafted descriptor must contain deeply nested `nested` namespace objects. • The affected `Root.fromJSON()` / `Namespace.addJSON()` descriptor expansion path must process the crafted input. Workarounds Avoid loading untrusted protobuf JSON descriptors with affected versions. If immediate upgrade is not possible, reject excessively nested descriptor structures at an outer validation boundary where feasible, or isolate descriptor loading in a process that can be safely restarted.

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-45740 protobufjs compiles protobuf definitions into JavaScript (JS) functions. vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (1)

  • CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion weakness

References