Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
high 8.8

CVE-2026-41242 json

protobufjs has an arbitrary code execution issue

published 2026-04-16 6 mo ago modified 2026-11-04 4 d ago also EUVD-2026-23678 , GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.8%
EPSS 0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 55%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

protobufjs compiles protobuf definitions into JavaScript (JS) functions. In versions prior to 8.0.1, 7.5.5, and 6.11.6, attackers can inject arbitrary code in the "type" fields of protobuf definitions, which will then execute during object decoding using that definition. Versions 8.0.1, 7.5.5, and 6.11.6 patch the issue.

Patch / fix

  • npm protobufjs 6.11.6, 7.5.5, 8.0.1
  • Red Hat Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 1779841586
  • Red Hat Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 1781187342
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 1780467029, 1780467147
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 1783082680
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 1787762793

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-2026-41242 updated cvss 8.8

protobufjs: protobufjs: Arbitrary code execution via injected protobuf definition type fields

  • Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines openshift-pipelines/pipelines-console-plugin-rhel8, openshift-pipelines/pipelines-console-plugin-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3 apicurio/apicurio-studio-ui-rhel8
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop rh-podman-desktop.git, podman-desktop-macos-1-0, podman-desktop-windows-1-0
    affected: workaround, no fix available, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Ceph Storage 9 rhceph/alloy-rhel10
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Developer Hub 1 rhdh/backstage-community-plugin-catalog-backend-module-scaffolder-relation-processor
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 rhelai3/bootc-cuda-rhel9, rhelai3/bootc-rocm-rhel9, rhelai3/bootc-gaudi-rhel9, rhelai3/disk-image-cuda-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) rhoai/odh-mod-arch-gen-ai-rhel9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift4/ose-console-rhel9, redhat-user-workloads/ocp-art-tenant/art-images Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift5/ose-console-rhel9 Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4 odf4/mcg-core-rhel9 Red Hat Self-service automation portal 2 ansible-automation-platform/automation-portal
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9 1779841586
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:21338
show 11 more
  • Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9 1781187342
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:26234
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel9 1780467029, rhoai/odh-mod-arch-model-registry-rhel9 1780467147
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:24977
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 rhoai/odh-mod-arch-maas-rhel9 1783082680, rhoai/odh-mod-arch-maas-rhel9 1790128949, rhoai/odh-pipeline-runtime-minimal-cpu-py312-rhel9 1790331344, rhoai/odh-pipeline-runtime-pytorch-cuda-py312-rhel9 1789651383, rhoai/odh-pipeline-runtime-pytorch-rocm-py312-rhel9 1789651379, rhoai/odh-workbench-jupyter-minimal-cpu-py312-rhel9 1790260954, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:37275
  • Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 devspaces/code-rhel9 1787762793
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:62260
  • Red Hat Cryostat 4 grafana-infinity-datasource-npm
    not affected: component not present
  • Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3 openshift-service-mesh/kiali-rhel9, openshift-service-mesh/kiali-ossmc-rhel9
    not affected: vulnerable code not present
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 automation-platform-ui, ansible-automation-platform-26/gateway-rhel9
    not affected: component not present
  • Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 rhdh/rhdh-rhel9-operator 1779841292, rhdh/rhdh-operator-bundle 1779846497 Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 rhdh/rhdh-rhel9-operator 1781187028, rhdh/rhdh-operator-bundle 1781191254
    not affected: vulnerable code not present
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 grafana, grafana-loki, grafana-mssql, grafana-mysql, grafana-selinux, grafana-graphite, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 grafana, grafana-selinux
    not affected: component not present
  • Red Hat Hardened Images dotnet9.0
    not affected: vulnerable code not in execute path
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) rhoai/odh-mlflow-rhel9, rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel8, rhoai/odh-notebook-controller-rhel8, rhoai/odh-kf-notebook-controller-rhel8 Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 rhoai/odh-rhel9-operator 1780513840, rhoai/odh-vllm-cpu-rhel9 1780069252, rhoai/odh-modelmesh-rhel9 1780069506, rhoai/odh-operator-bundle 1780514621, rhoai/odh-vllm-cuda-rhel9 1780069320, rhoai/odh-vllm-rocm-rhel9 1780069849, +69 more Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 rhoai/odh-cli-rhel9 1782471642, rhoai/odh-cli-rhel9 1790070206, rhoai/rhai-cli-rhel9 1782471642, rhoai/rhai-cli-rhel9 1790070206, rhoai/odh-mlflow-rhel9 1782917849, rhoai/odh-mlflow-rhel9 1789653606, +140 more Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift4/ose-console Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 devspaces/udi-rhel9 1787764814, devspaces/server-rhel9 1787757597, devspaces/openvsx-rhel9 1787759145, devspaces/traefik-rhel9 1787756799, devspaces/udi-base-rhel9 1787761882, devspaces/code-sshd-rhel9 1787762385, +10 more
    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
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
6 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.77% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 55% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 4.0 9.4 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
CISA ADP 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
GitHub 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 4.0 9.4 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
NVD 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm protobufjs
>=8.0.0, <8.0.1
>=7.0.0, <7.5.5
<6.11.6
8.0.1
7.5.5
6.11.6

Affected products

  • protobufjs protobuf.js
  • Red Hat Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8
  • Red Hat Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30
  • Red Hat Cryostat 4
  • Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines
  • Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
  • Red Hat Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3
  • Red Hat Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ceph Storage 9
  • Red Hat Red Hat Developer Hub
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3
  • Red Hat Red Hat Hardened Images
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
  • Red Hat Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4
  • Red Hat Self-service automation portal 2

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code

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.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.