CVE-2022-1941Out of Memory issue in ProtocolBuffers for cpp and python
- 7.5HighCVSS base score
- 1.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 25% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A parsing vulnerability for the MessageSet type in the ProtocolBuffers versions prior to and including 3.16.1, 3.17.3, 3.18.2, 3.19.4, 3.20.1 and 3.21.5 for protobuf-cpp, and versions prior to and including 3.16.1, 3.17.3, 3.18.2, 3.19.4, 3.20.1 and 4.21.5 for protobuf-python can lead to out of memory failures. A specially crafted message with multiple key-value per elements creates parsing issues, and can lead to a Denial of Service against services receiving unsanitized input. We recommend upgrading to versions 3.18.3, 3.19.5, 3.20.2, 3.21.6 for protobuf-cpp and 3.18.3, 3.19.5, 3.20.2, 4.21.6 for protobuf-python. Versions for 3.16 and 3.17 are no longer updated.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Google
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
- 23 months later
· 23 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.5% · top 25% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.5.
Affected products
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.16.1
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.17.3
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.18.2
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.19.4
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.20.1
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.21.5
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.16.1
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.17.3
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.18.2
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.19.4
- affected unspecified – ≤ 3.20.1
- affected unspecified – ≤ 4.21.5
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- PyPIprotobufGHSA-8gq9-2x98-w8hf (opens in a new tab)
References
References7
- https://cloud.google.com/support/bulletins#GCP-2022-019 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-8gq9-2x98-w8hf (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- [oss-security] 20220927 CVE-2022-1941: Protobuf C++, Python DoS (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_transferred
- FEDORA-2022-25f35ed634 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20230418 [SECURITY] [DLA 3393-1] protobuf security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_transferred
- FEDORA-2022-15729fa33d (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_transferred
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240705-0001/ (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2022-6743 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-8gq9-2x98-w8hf (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2022-1941)Record last updated .