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Fencer Vulns
high 7.5

CVE-2022-3509 json

Parsing issue in protobuf textformat

published 2022-11-01 4 y ago modified 2026-09-10 1 mo ago also GHSA-g5ww-5jh7-63cx , EUVD-2022-7625

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.0%
EPSS 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 61%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A parsing issue similar to CVE-2022-3171, but with textformat 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.

Patch / fix

  • maven com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7
  • maven com.google.protobuf:protobuf-javalite 3.16.3, 3.20.3, 3.21.7
  • Google ProtocolBuffers 3.16.3, 3.19.6, 3.20.3, 3.21.7
  • protobuf Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.21.9-3

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2022-3509

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-2022-3509 updated cvss 5.3

protobuf-java: Textformat parsing issue leads to DoS

  • Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications 6 org.keycloak-keycloak-parent Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Runtimes org.keycloak-keycloak-parent Red Hat build of Debezium 1 protobuf-java
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Decision Manager 7 protobuf-java Red Hat Fuse 7 protobuf-java Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6 protobuf-java
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack protobuf-java
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6 protobuf-java Red Hat JBoss Fuse Service Works 6 protobuf-java Red Hat Process Automation 7 protobuf-java
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:1855
  • Red Hat RHINT Service Registry 2.4.3 GA
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:3815
  • Red Hat RHPAM 7.13.4 async
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:4983
  • Red Hat A-MQ Clients 2 protobuf-java Red Hat Logging Subsystem for Red Hat OpenShift openshift-logging/elasticsearch6-rhel8 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services jenkins-2-plugins Red Hat build of Quarkus protobuf-java Red Hat Data Grid 8 protobuf-java Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 log4j, log4j-jcl, log4j-web, log4j-slf4j
    +7 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 log4j, log4j-jcl, log4j-slf4j Red Hat Integration Camel Quarkus 2 protobuf-java Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 7 protobuf-java Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 protobuf-java Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 protobuf-java Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 jenkins-2-plugins Red Hat Single Sign-On 7 protobuf-java
    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
yes
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
18 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.97% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 61% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
GitHub 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
maven com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java
>=3.0.0, <3.16.3
>=3.17.0, <3.19.6
>=3.20.0, <3.20.3
>=3.21.0, <3.21.7
3.16.3
3.19.6
3.20.3
3.21.7
maven com.google.protobuf:protobuf-javalite
>=3.20.0, <3.20.3
>=3.21.0, <3.21.7
>=3.0.0, <3.16.3
3.20.3
3.21.7
3.16.3

Affected products

  • Google ProtocolBuffers

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

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.