🛡️ CVE-2026-0994 — protobuf

🟠 CVSS 8.0 — High ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-674 OSV

8.0

CVSS Score

0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

protobuf affected by a JSON recursion depth bypass

A denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability exists in google.protobuf.json_format.ParseDict() in Python, where the max_recursion_depth limit can be bypassed when parsing nested google.protobuf.Any messages.

Due to missing recursion depth accounting inside the internal Any-handling logic, an attacker can supply deeply nested Any structures that bypass the intended recursion limit, eventually exhausting Python’s recursion stack and causing a RecursionError.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

Weakness class

CVE-2026-0994 is classified as CWE-674: Uncontrolled Recursion. The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack.

Affected software

CVE-2026-0994 is recorded against 1 package.

protobuf (fixed in 5.29.6)

Timeline and source

Published on 23 January 2026 and last revised on 15 July 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from OSV.

References

nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Package)

CVE-2026-0994 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

BellSoft Debian PyPI (Root.io)Ubuntu

Details

Severity HIGH

CVSS Score 8.0

CVSS Vector CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L

CWE CWE-674

Public Exploit ✅ No

Source OSV

Published 2026-01-23

Updated 2026-08-20

Modified 2026-07-15

Fix URL https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/pull/25239

Affected Packages

Software	From version	Fixed in
protobuf	—	5.29.6

References

ADVISORY https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-0994

WEB https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/issues/25070

WEB https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/pull/25239

WEB https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/commit/5ebddcb1bcbe51d1fe323baa145e85f4f23128cf

WEB https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/commit/d2b001626d137c62dfee6c88c87324102531868b

PACKAGE https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf

🔗 NVD 🔗 Mitre ✅ Fix / Advisory

Similar Threats

Site Security Check

Is protobuf part of your stack?

CVE-2026-0994 is rated CVSS 8.0 High. BotEraser scans your installation against known CVE records and tells you whether this vulnerability applies to the versions you actually run.

Scan My Site Free →

No credit card required · Results in minutes

ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.