CVE-2025-53605: Protobuf Crash Due To Uncontrolled Recursion Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-2gh3-rmm4-6rq5
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CWE-20 CWE-770
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-53605 is a MODERATE crash due to uncontrolled recursion vulnerability (CWE-20: Improper Input Validation) affecting Protobuf libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves crash due to uncontrolled recursion in protobuf crate. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.7.2.

CVE-2025-53605 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-53605
GHSA Identifier GHSA-2gh3-rmm4-6rq5
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
Affected Product Protobuf
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2025-53605

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Protobuf dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

protobuf fixed: 3.7.2 
Upgrade protobuf to 3.7.2
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for protobuf

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2025-53605, inspect your project dependencies for Protobuf:

inspect dependencies for protobuf

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Protobuf in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.7.2), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation, where the product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. In Protobuf, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Affected version of this crate did not properly parse unknown fields when parsing a user-supplied input. This allows an attacker to cause a stack overflow when parsing the message on untrusted data.

CVE-2025-53605 Affected Protobuf Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
3.7.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
protobuf
 crates.io
< 3.7.2
3.7.2

References

NVD — CVE-2025-53605 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53605
Protobuf Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf/issues/749
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf/commit/f06992f46771c0a092593b9ebf7afd48740b3ed6
Protobuf Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2024-0437.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-53605?
CVE-2025-53605 is a security vulnerability in Protobuf involving Crash due to uncontrolled recursion in protobuf crate under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
Which Protobuf versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 3.7.2 across affected packages: protobuf.
What version fixes CVE-2025-53605?
Upgrading to 3.7.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is protobuf affected?
Yes, protobuf is affected in releases prior to 3.7.2. Upgrade your dependency to 3.7.2 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-53605?
CVE-2025-53605 is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation (The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2025-53605?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for protobuf'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-2gh3-rmm4-6rq5",
  "modified" : "2025-08-01T19:20:19Z",
  "published" : "2025-03-07T20:02:37Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-53605" ],
  "summary" : "Crash due to uncontrolled recursion in protobuf crate",
  "details" : "Affected version of this crate did not properly parse unknown fields when parsing a user-supplied input.\n\nThis allows an attacker to cause a stack overflow when parsing the message on untrusted data.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "protobuf"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.7.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53605"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf/issues/749"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf/commit/f06992f46771c0a092593b9ebf7afd48740b3ed6"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2024-0437.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20", "CWE-770" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-03-07T20:02:37Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}