GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg: Withdrawn Advisory Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
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CWE-20
Published
Advisory Summary

GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg is a HIGH denial of service vulnerability (CWE-20: Improper Input Validation) affecting Withdrawn Advisory libraries in the Packagist ecosystem. The issue involves protobuf: denial of service issue through malicious messages containing negative varints or deep recursion. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg at a Glance

CVE Identifier N/A
GHSA Identifier GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
Affected Product Withdrawn Advisory
Package Ecosystem Packagist
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Withdrawn Advisory dependencies to a patched release.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

google/protobuf fixed: Latest secure release 
Upgrade google/protobuf to Latest secure release
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 google/protobuf

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg, inspect your project dependencies for Withdrawn Advisory:

inspect dependencies for google/protobuf

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Withdrawn Advisory in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), 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 In Withdrawn Advisory, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing.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

## Duplicate Advisory This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-p2gh-cfq4-4wjc. This link is maintained to preserve external references. ## Original Description A Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability exists in the Protobuf PHP library during the parsing of untrusted input. Maliciously structured messages—specifically those containing negative varints or deep recursion—can be used to crash the application, impacting service availability.

GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg Affected Withdrawn Advisory Versions

1 component(s)
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
google/protobuf
 Packagist

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-p2gh-cfq4-4wjc
NVD — GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6409

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg?
GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg is a security vulnerability in Withdrawn Advisory involving Protobuf: Denial of Service issue through malicious messages containing negative varints or deep recursion under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
Which Withdrawn Advisory versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches across affected packages: google/protobuf.
What version fixes GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is google/protobuf affected?
Yes, google/protobuf is affected in releases prior to Latest secure release. Upgrade your dependency to Latest secure release or later.
What CWE is associated with GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg?
GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg 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 Packagist dependencies for GHSA-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for google/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-qjfj-3mm5-vrjg",
  "modified" : "2026-04-16T22:59:19Z",
  "published" : "2026-04-16T15:31:33Z",
  "withdrawn" : "2026-04-16T22:59:19Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "Withdrawn Advisory: Protobuf: Denial of Service issue through malicious messages containing negative varints or deep recursion",
  "details" : "## Duplicate Advisory\n\nThis advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-p2gh-cfq4-4wjc. This link is maintained to preserve external references.\n\n## Original Description\nA Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability exists in the Protobuf PHP library during the parsing of untrusted input. Maliciously structured messages—specifically those containing negative varints or deep recursion—can be used to crash the application, impacting service availability.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "google/protobuf"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "< 4.33.6"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-p2gh-cfq4-4wjc"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6409"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-04-16T22:59:19Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-04-16T15:17:41Z"
  }
}