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BREW-DEXTER-CVE-2021-22569 (GHSA-WRVW-HG22-4M67)

Vulnerability from osv_homebrew – Published: 2026-08-13 16:42 – Updated: 2026-08-13 16:42 – Source website
VLAI
Summary
A potential Denial of Service issue in protobuf-java
Details

Summary

A potential Denial of Service issue in protobuf-java was discovered in the parsing procedure for binary data.

Reporter: OSS-Fuzz

Affected versions: All versions of Java Protobufs (including Kotlin and JRuby) prior to the versions listed below. Protobuf "javalite" users (typically Android) are not affected.

Severity

CVE-2021-22569 High - CVSS Score: 7.5, An implementation weakness in how unknown fields are parsed in Java. A small (~800 KB) malicious payload can occupy the parser for several minutes by creating large numbers of short-lived objects that cause frequent, repeated GC pauses.

Proof of Concept

For reproduction details, please refer to the oss-fuzz issue that identifies the specific inputs that exercise this parsing weakness.

Remediation and Mitigation

Please update to the latest available versions of the following packages:

  • protobuf-java (3.16.1, 3.18.2, 3.19.2)
  • protobuf-kotlin (3.18.2, 3.19.2)
  • google-protobuf [JRuby gem only] (3.19.2)
Severity
7.5 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
References
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "fix": "bump",
        "range_state": "fixed",
        "resource": "google-protobuf",
        "resource_purl": "pkg:gem/google-protobuf@4.33.0",
        "upstream_fixed_in": "3.19.2"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Homebrew",
        "name": "dexter",
        "purl": "pkg:brew/dexter"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "0.6.3_1"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "confidence": "high",
    "source": "matched",
    "strategy": "registry",
    "upstream_evidence": [
      {
        "ecosystem": "RubyGems",
        "key": "pkg:gem/google-protobuf@4.33.0",
        "name": "google-protobuf",
        "resource": "google-protobuf",
        "strategy": "registry",
        "subject_version": "4.33.0"
      }
    ]
  },
  "details": "## Summary\n\nA potential Denial of Service issue in protobuf-java was discovered in the parsing procedure for binary data.\n\nReporter: [OSS-Fuzz](https://github.com/google/oss-fuzz)\n\nAffected versions: All versions of Java Protobufs (including Kotlin and JRuby) prior to the versions listed below. Protobuf \"javalite\" users (typically Android) are not affected.\n\n## Severity\n\n[CVE-2021-22569](https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2021-22569) **High** - CVSS Score: 7.5,  An implementation weakness in how unknown fields are parsed in Java. A small (~800 KB) malicious payload can occupy the parser for several minutes by creating large numbers of short-lived objects that cause frequent, repeated GC pauses.\n\n## Proof of Concept\n\nFor reproduction details, please refer to the oss-fuzz issue that identifies the specific inputs that exercise this parsing weakness.\n\n## Remediation and Mitigation\n\nPlease update to the latest available versions of the following packages:\n\n- protobuf-java (3.16.1, 3.18.2, 3.19.2) \n- protobuf-kotlin (3.18.2, 3.19.2)\n- google-protobuf [JRuby  gem only] (3.19.2) \n",
  "id": "BREW-dexter-CVE-2021-22569",
  "modified": "2026-08-13T16:42:27Z",
  "published": "2026-08-13T16:42:27Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-wrvw-hg22-4m67"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22569"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=39330"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://cloud.google.com/support/bulletins#gcp-2022-001"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/12/4"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/12/7"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.7.3",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "A potential Denial of Service issue in protobuf-java",
  "upstream": [
    "GHSA-wrvw-hg22-4m67",
    "CVE-2021-22569"
  ]
}



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