---
id: CVE-2026-48712
aliases:
  - GHSA-wcpc-wj8m-hjx6
title: >-
  protobufjs: Denial of service through unbounded Any expansion during JSON
  conversion
summary: >-
  protobufjs: Denial of service through unbounded Any expansion during JSON
  conversion
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cwe:
  - CWE-674
vendor: protobufjs
product: protobufjs
ecosystem: npm
affected:
  - protobufjs <= 7.6.0
  - 'protobufjs >= 8.0.0, <= 8.4.0'
patched:
  - protobufjs 7.6.1
  - protobufjs 8.4.1
published: '2026-06-15'
updated: '2026-06-15'
source: GHSA
sourceUrl: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-wcpc-wj8m-hjx6'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/security/advisories/GHSA-wcpc-wj8m-hjx6
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-wcpc-wj8m-hjx6'
tags:
  - ghsa
  - npm
epss: 0.0046
epssPercentile: 0.39176
ingestedAt: '2026-07-07T15:41:58.736Z'
---

## Overview

## Summary

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.

## Impact

An attacker who can provide protobuf binary data decoded by an application may be able to crash the process or otherwise cause message conversion to fail with a stack overflow.

This affects applications that decode untrusted protobuf input containing `google.protobuf.Any` values and then convert decoded messages to JSON or plain objects with JSON conversion enabled, for example through `JSON.stringify(message)`, `Message#toJSON()`, or `Type.toObject(message, { json: true })`.

Applications that only decode and re-encode protobuf binary data without converting decoded messages to JSON are not directly affected by this issue.

## Preconditions

* The application must decode protobuf binary data influenced by an attacker.
* The application schema must include `google.protobuf.Any`, and the referenced `type_url` must resolve to a message type in the loaded protobuf root.
* The application must convert the decoded message to JSON or a plain object through an affected conversion path.
* The crafted input must contain deeply nested `Any` values that are expanded during conversion.

## Workarounds

Avoid converting untrusted protobuf messages containing `google.protobuf.Any` values to JSON with affected versions. If immediate upgrade is not possible, reject or limit messages with deeply nested `Any` payloads at an outer protocol boundary where feasible, avoid JSON conversion of untrusted `Any` values, or isolate message conversion in a process that can be safely restarted.

## Affected packages

- `protobufjs <= 7.6.0`
- `protobufjs >= 8.0.0, <= 8.4.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `protobufjs 7.6.1`
- `protobufjs 8.4.1`