CVE-2026-48712: protobufjs: Denial of service through unbounded Any expansion during JSON conversion

Description

protobufjs compiles protobuf definitions into JavaScript (JS) functions. Prior to 7.6.1 and 8.4.1, protobufjs could recurse without a depth limit while converting decoded messages to plain objects or JSON. This affected generated toObject() conversion and the custom google.protobuf.Any JSON conversion path. A crafted protobuf binary payload containing deeply nested Any values could cause the JavaScript call stack to be exhausted during conversion to JSON. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.6.1 and 8.4.1.

CVSS vector

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

Attack vector

Network

Complexity

Low

Privileges

None

User interaction

None

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Scope

Unchanged

Exploitation

Is it being used?

Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 40% of CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet

CISA KEVNot listed

Ransomware campaign useNot known

Affected products

Which versions

PR

protobuf.js · protobufjs

< 7.6.1; >= 8.0.0, < 8.4.1 · source: vendor

PR

Protobufjs · Protobufjs Project

before 7.6.1; 8.0.0 before 8.4.1 · source: NVD