What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-3171: Memory handling vulnerability in ProtocolBuffers Java core and lite

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 1.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2022-10-12 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-20

Description

A parsing issue with binary data in protobuf-java core and lite versions prior to 3.21.7, 3.20.3, 3.19.6 and 3.16.3 can lead to a denial of service attack. Inputs containing multiple instances of non-repeated embedded messages with repeated or unknown fields causes objects to be converted back-n-forth between mutable and immutable forms, resulting in potentially long garbage collection pauses. We recommend updating to the versions mentioned above.

Affected products

• Fedoraproject Fedora: 37
• Google-Protobuf: before 3.16.3; from 3.17.0 before 3.19.6; from 3.20.0 before 3.20.3; from 3.21.0 before 3.21.7 — fixed in 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7
• Google protobuf-java: before 3.16.3; from 3.17.0 before 3.19.6; from 3.20.0 before 3.20.3; from 3.21.0 before 3.21.7 — fixed in 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7
• Google protobuf-javalite: before 3.16.3; from 3.17.0 before 3.19.6; from 3.20.0 before 3.20.3; from 3.21.0 before 3.21.7 — fixed in 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7
• Google protobuf-kotlin: before 3.16.3; from 3.17.0 before 3.19.6; from 3.20.0 before 3.20.3; from 3.21.0 before 3.21.7 — fixed in 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7
• Google Protobuf-Kotlin-Lite: before 3.16.3; from 3.17.0 before 3.19.6; from 3.20.0 before 3.20.3; from 3.21.0 before 3.21.7 — fixed in 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Google-Protobuf 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7; Google protobuf-java 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7; Google protobuf-javalite 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7; Google protobuf-kotlin 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7; Google Protobuf-Kotlin-Lite 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-h4h5-3hr4-j3g2
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CBAUKJQL6O4TIWYBENORSY5P43TVB4M3/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MPCGUT3T5L6C3IDWUPSUO22QDCGQKTOP/
• https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202301-09
• https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-h4h5-3hr4-j3g2
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CBAUKJQL6O4TIWYBENORSY5P43TVB4M3/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MPCGUT3T5L6C3IDWUPSUO22QDCGQKTOP/
• https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202301-09

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