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A potential Denial of Service issue in protobuf-java

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jan 6, 2022 in protocolbuffers/protobuf • Updated Jan 24, 2023

Package

maven com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java (Maven)

Affected versions

< 3.16.1
>= 3.18.0, < 3.18.2
>= 3.19.0, < 3.19.2

Patched versions

3.16.1
3.18.2
3.19.2
maven com.google.protobuf:protobuf-kotlin (Maven)
>= 3.18.0, < 3.18.2
>= 3.19.0, < 3.19.2
3.18.2
3.19.2
bundler google-protobuf (RubyGems)
< 3.19.2
3.19.2

Description

Summary

A potential Denial of Service issue in protobuf-java was discovered in the parsing procedure for binary data.

Reporter: OSS-Fuzz

Affected versions: All versions of Java Protobufs (including Kotlin and JRuby) prior to the versions listed below. Protobuf "javalite" users (typically Android) are not affected.

Severity

CVE-2021-22569 High - CVSS Score: 7.5, An implementation weakness in how unknown fields are parsed in Java. A small (~800 KB) malicious payload can occupy the parser for several minutes by creating large numbers of short-lived objects that cause frequent, repeated GC pauses.

Proof of Concept

For reproduction details, please refer to the oss-fuzz issue that identifies the specific inputs that exercise this parsing weakness.

Remediation and Mitigation

Please update to the latest available versions of the following packages:

  • protobuf-java (3.16.1, 3.18.2, 3.19.2)
  • protobuf-kotlin (3.18.2, 3.19.2)
  • google-protobuf [JRuby gem only] (3.19.2)

References

@perezd perezd published to protocolbuffers/protobuf Jan 6, 2022
Reviewed Jan 7, 2022
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jan 7, 2022
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jan 10, 2022
Last updated Jan 24, 2023

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

0.101%
(43rd percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2021-22569

GHSA ID

GHSA-wrvw-hg22-4m67
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