CVE-2026-44288 MEDIUM

CVE-2026-44288: protobufjs: Overlong UTF-8 decoding

Vendor Protobufjs
Product protobuf.js
Weakness CWE-176
Published May 13, 2026
Last update May 13, 2026

CVSS base score

5.3/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Confidentiality None
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

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

What the vulnerability does

01Description

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.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

May 13, 2026 CVE published
May 13, 2026 Record updated