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CVE-2026-44288

MEDIUMCVSS 5.3/10EPSS 0.30%

Last modified

CVE-2026-44288 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.3/10 on the CVSS scale. 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. EPSS estimates a 0.30% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

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.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
5.3/10

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

EPSS Probability
0.30%

21.7th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

VendorProductVersions
Protobufjs ProjectProtobufjs< 7.5.6
Protobufjs ProjectProtobufjs>= 8.0.0, < 8.0.2

References

Timeline

Published
Last Modified
Status
Analyzed

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-44288?
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.
How severe is CVE-2026-44288?
CVE-2026-44288 has a CVSS score of 5.3/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.30% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How do I fix CVE-2026-44288?
Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

Are you affected by CVE-2026-44288?

Run a free Strix scan to check your systems for this vulnerability.

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Source: NVD / NIST