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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.5

CVE-2021-22570 json

Nullptr Dereference in Protobuf

published 2022-01-26 4 y ago modified 2026-09-10 1 mo ago also GHSA-77rm-9x9h-xj3g , PYSEC-2022-48 , EUVD-2022-0206

cvss
6.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.7%
EPSS 2.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 85%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Nullptr dereference when a null char is present in a proto symbol. The symbol is parsed incorrectly, leading to an unchecked call into the proto file's name during generation of the resulting error message. Since the symbol is incorrectly parsed, the file is nullptr. We recommend upgrading to version 3.15.0 or greater.

Patch / fix

  • pypi protobuf 3.15.0
  • Google LLC Protobuf 3.15.0
  • protobuf Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.21.9-3

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2021-22570

  • protobuf Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 3.0.0-9.1ubuntu1.1
  • protobuf Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 3.6.1.3-2ubuntu5.2
  • protobuf Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 3.12.4-1ubuntu7.22.04.1
  • protobuf Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 2.5.0-9ubuntu1+esm1
  • protobuf Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 2.6.1-1.3ubuntu0.1~esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2021-22570

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • protobuf openstack 16.2, openstack 16.1 3.6.1-6.el8ost
  • python3-protobuf openstack 16.2, openstack 16.1 3.6.1-6.el8ost
  • protobuf RHEL 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • protobuf-lite RHEL 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • python3-protobuf RHEL 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • protobuf-compiler RHEL 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • protobuf RHEL 8 3.5.0-15.el8
  • protobuf-lite RHEL 8 3.5.0-15.el8

red hat advisories RHSA-2024:3433RHSA-2022:8860RHSA-2022:8847RHSA-2022:7970RHSA-2022:7464

  • protobuf SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP1, SLE Installer Updates 15 SP1, SLES for SAP 15 SP1 +2 more 3.9.2-150100.8.3.3
  • python-psutil SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP1, Enterprise Storage 7, SLES for SAP 15 SP2 +5 more 5.9.1-150100.6.6.3
  • python-requests SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP1, Enterprise Storage 7, SLES for SAP 15 SP2 +5 more 2.25.1-150100.6.13.3
  • grpc SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP1 1.25.0-150100.3.3.3
  • python-avro SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP4, SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP3, SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP2 +1 more 1.11.0-150100.3.3.3
  • python-knack SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP5, SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP4, SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP3 +3 more 0.9.0-150100.3.7.3
  • python-pytest SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP2, SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP1 3.10.1-150000.7.5.1
  • azure-cli-core SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP5, SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP4, SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP3 +3 more 2.17.1-150100.6.18.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2023:2783-2SUSE-SU-2023:2783-1SUSE-SU-2022:1040-3SUSE-SU-2022:1040-2SUSE-SU-2022:1040-1

  • protobuf openSUSE Leap 15.3 3.9.2-4.12.1
  • protobuf openSUSE Leap 15.3 3.5.0-5.5.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2022:1040-1openSUSE-SU-2022:0823-1

  • protobuf AlmaLinux 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • protobuf-lite AlmaLinux 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • python3-protobuf AlmaLinux 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • protobuf-compiler AlmaLinux 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • protobuf AlmaLinux 8 3.5.0-15.el8
  • protobuf-lite AlmaLinux 8 3.5.0-15.el8
  • python3-protobuf AlmaLinux 8 3.5.0-15.el8
  • protobuf-compiler AlmaLinux 8 3.5.0-15.el8

almalinux advisories ALSA-2022:7970ALSA-2022:7464

  • protobuf Rocky Linux 9 3.14.0-13.el9
  • protobuf Rocky Linux 8 3.5.0-15.el8

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2022:7970RLSA-2022:7464

  • mysql CBL-Mariner 2.0 8.0.29-1

azure linux advisories AZL-9830

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2021-22570 updated cvss 7.5

protobuf: Incorrect parsing of nullchar in the proto symbol leads to Nullptr dereference

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 protobuf, protobuf-vim, protobuf-java, protobuf-lite, protobuf-emacs, protobuf-python, +3 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift4/ose-kuryr-cni-rhel8, openshift4/ose-kuryr-controller-rhel8
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) protobuf-devel 3.5.0-15.el8, protobuf-debuginfo 3.5.0-15.el8, protobuf-lite-devel 3.5.0-15.el8, protobuf-debugsource 3.5.0-15.el8, protobuf-lite-debuginfo 3.5.0-15.el8, protobuf-compiler-debuginfo 3.5.0-15.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:7464
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) protobuf-compiler 3.14.0-13.el9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:7970
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.8.6) protobuf-devel 3.5.0-15.el8_6, protobuf-debuginfo 3.5.0-15.el8_6, protobuf-lite-devel 3.5.0-15.el8_6, protobuf-debugsource 3.5.0-15.el8_6, protobuf-lite-debuginfo 3.5.0-15.el8_6, protobuf-compiler-debuginfo 3.5.0-15.el8_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:3433
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) protobuf 3.5.0-15.el8, protobuf-lite 3.5.0-15.el8, python3-protobuf 3.5.0-15.el8, protobuf-compiler 3.5.0-15.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:7464
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) protobuf 3.14.0-13.el9, protobuf-lite 3.14.0-13.el9, python3-protobuf 3.14.0-13.el9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:7970
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.8.6) protobuf 3.5.0-15.el8_6, protobuf-lite 3.5.0-15.el8_6, python3-protobuf 3.5.0-15.el8_6, protobuf-compiler 3.5.0-15.el8_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:3433
show 3 more
  • Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.1 protobuf 3.6.1-6.el8ost, python3-protobuf 3.6.1-6.el8ost
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8860
  • Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2 protobuf 3.6.1-6.el8ost, python3-protobuf 3.6.1-6.el8ost
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8847
  • Red Hat Quay 3 quay/quay-rhel8
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
18 mo ago

Exploit prediction

2.66% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 85% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi protobuf
<3.15.0
3.15.0

Affected products

  • Google LLC Protobuf

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.