CVE-2026-44292 is a prototype injection vulnerability in protobufjs generated message constructors. Affected constructors copy enumerable properties from a supplied properties object without filtering the proto key. When an application constructs a message from an attacker-controlled plain object containing an own enumerable proto property, the attacker can alter that message instance's prototype. The issue affects protobufjs versions through 7.5.5 and versions 8.0.0–8.0.1, and is fixed in 7.5.6 and 8.0.2. The injection is limited to individual message instances rather than global prototypes.
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1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos.
This repository is a small standalone Python proof-of-concept for CVE-2026-44289, with the README also listing related CVEs affecting protobuf.js. The repository contains 6 files: a README, license, requirements, a CVE naming template, and one executable Python PoC file. The main and only code file, cve-2026-44289.py, implements a simplified recursive protobuf decoder class and a payload generator. Core capability: the PoC creates a deeply nested length-delimited protobuf-style payload using generate_deep_nested_payload(), then feeds it into VulnerableProtobufDecoder.decode(), which recursively decodes nested messages without a depth limit when run in vulnerable mode. This demonstrates uncontrolled recursion leading to RecursionError / simulated stack overflow, i.e., a denial-of-service condition. In safe mode, the same decoder is instantiated with a max_depth limit to show how the issue can be mitigated. Exploit structure: - VulnerableProtobufDecoder.decode(): recursively parses varint tags and length-delimited nested fields; the recursive self.decode(nested_data, depth + 1) call is the vulnerable behavior. - generate_deep_nested_payload(depth): constructs attacker-controlled nested binary input by repeatedly wrapping the previous payload in field 1, wire type 2. - _encode_varint(value): helper for protobuf-style varint encoding. - main(): CLI interface supporting payload generation and decode testing. Operationally, this is not a remote exploit and contains no shell, command execution, callback, or persistence logic. It is a local PoC / lab demonstrator for parser denial of service. No network services, IPs, or C2 endpoints are present. The only fingerprintable runtime artifact is the default payload file path payload.bin. The requirements file mentions protobuf and google-api-python-client, but the PoC itself relies only on Python standard library modules (argparse, sys, struct, typing). Overall, the repository’s purpose is educational demonstration of uncontrolled recursion in protobuf decoding rather than weaponized exploitation.
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A prototype-manipulation vulnerability in protobufjs message constructors allows an attacker-controlled object's enumerable __proto__ property to alter an individual message instance's prototype. The reference assigns a medium-severity CVSS v3 score of 5.3, with low integrity impact and no confidentiality or availability impact. Fixed versions are 7.5.6 and 8.0.2; the plugin recommends updating protobufjs and related packages.
A protobufjs vulnerability causing data integrity impact due to prototype pollution.
Prototype manipulation vulnerability in protobufjs via the __proto__ property that can alter message instance prototypes and disrupt application logic, though it does not directly cause RCE or full application crash.
A prototype injection vulnerability in generated message constructors that can be abused to crash affected Node.js services, including services such as Baileys-based WhatsApp bots.
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