CVE-2019-15544: Protobuf Uncontrolled Memory Consumption Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-mh6h-f25p-98f8
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-770
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2019-15544 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) uncontrolled memory consumption vulnerability (CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) affecting Protobuf libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves uncontrolled memory consumption in protobuf. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.6.0.

CVE-2019-15544 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2019-15544
GHSA Identifier GHSA-mh6h-f25p-98f8
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Affected Product Protobuf
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2019-15544

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: 2.6.0 
Upgrade protobuf to 2.6.0
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-2019-15544, 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 2.6.0), 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-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling, where the product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated. 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 versions of this crate called Vec::reserve() on user-supplied input. This allows an attacker to cause an Out of Memory condition while calling the vulnerable method on untrusted data.

CVE-2019-15544 Affected Protobuf Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.6.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
protobuf
 crates.io
< 2.6.0
2.6.0

References

NVD — CVE-2019-15544 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-15544
Protobuf Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf/issues/411
Protobuf Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2019-0003.html
lists.apache.org/thread.html/r00097d... WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r00097d0b5b6164ea428554007121d5dc1f88ba2af7b9e977a10572cd@%3Cdev.hbase.apache.org%3E
lists.apache.org/thread.html/r4ef574... WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r4ef574a5621b0e670a3ce641e9922543e34f22bf4c9ee9584aa67fcf@%3Cissues.hbase.apache.org%3E
lists.apache.org/thread.html/r7fed8d... WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r7fed8dd9bee494094e7011cf3c2ab75bd8754ea314c6734688c42932@%3Ccommon-issues.hadoop.apache.org%3E
lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd64381... WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd64381fb8f92d640c1975dc50dcdf1b8512e02a2a7b20292d3565cae@%3Cissues.hbase.apache.org%3E

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2019-15544?
CVE-2019-15544 is a security vulnerability in Protobuf involving Uncontrolled memory consumption in protobuf under CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling.
Which Protobuf versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.6.0 across affected packages: protobuf.
What version fixes CVE-2019-15544?
Upgrading to 2.6.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is protobuf affected?
Yes, protobuf is affected in releases prior to 2.6.0. Upgrade your dependency to 2.6.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-15544?
CVE-2019-15544 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2019-15544?
CVE-2019-15544 is classified under CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2019-15544?
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-mh6h-f25p-98f8",
  "modified" : "2023-06-13T20:32:32Z",
  "published" : "2021-08-25T20:44:05Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2019-15544" ],
  "summary" : "Uncontrolled memory consumption in protobuf",
  "details" : "Affected versions of this crate called Vec::reserve() on user-supplied input. This allows an attacker to cause an Out of Memory condition while calling the vulnerable method on untrusted data.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "protobuf"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.6.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-15544"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf/issues/411"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/stepancheg/rust-protobuf"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r00097d0b5b6164ea428554007121d5dc1f88ba2af7b9e977a10572cd@%3Cdev.hbase.apache.org%3E"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r4ef574a5621b0e670a3ce641e9922543e34f22bf4c9ee9584aa67fcf@%3Cissues.hbase.apache.org%3E"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r7fed8dd9bee494094e7011cf3c2ab75bd8754ea314c6734688c42932@%3Ccommon-issues.hadoop.apache.org%3E"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd64381fb8f92d640c1975dc50dcdf1b8512e02a2a7b20292d3565cae@%3Cissues.hbase.apache.org%3E"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2019-0003.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-770" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-08-19T21:23:35Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2019-08-26T18:15:00Z"
  }
}