AIKIDO-2026-992567
protobuf is vulnerable to Use-After-Free
76
High Risk
This Affects:
protobufTL;DR
The C++ implementation exposes a JSON parser that can read input delivered as a stream of separate chunks. When untrusted JSON is split across chunk boundaries, the parser reads bytes from a buffer that has already been freed and copies that freed data into an error message. This use-after-free can disclose freed heap memory and destabilize the process. It does not occur when parsing from a single contiguous buffer. The fix corrects buffer lifetime handling so the parser no longer references freed memory.
Who does this affect?
You are affected if you are using a version that falls within the vulnerable range and your application uses JsonToBinaryStream() to parse untrusted JSON supplied as separate stream chunks rather than a contiguous buffer.
Background info
protobuf is vulnerable to Use-After-Free in versions 4.22.0 - 4.24.4.
How to fix this
Upgrade the protobuf library to the patch version.
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ISO 27001CompliantISO 42001Compliant
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