protobuf-python has a potential Denial of Service issue
### Summary Any project that uses Protobuf pure-Python backend to parse untrusted Protocol Buffers data containing an arbitrary number of **recursive groups**, **recursive messages** or **a series of [`SGROUP`](https://protobuf.dev/programming-guides/encoding/#groups) tags** can be corrupted by exceeding the Python recursion limit. Reporter: Alexis Challande, Trail of Bits Ecosystem Security Team [ecosystem@trailofbits.com](mailto:ecosystem@trailofbits.com) Affected versions: This issue only affects the [pure-Python implementation](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/tree/main/python#implementation-backends) of protobuf-python backend. This is the implementation when `PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION=python` environment variable is set or the default when protobuf is used from Bazel or pure-Python PyPi wheels. CPython PyPi wheels do not use pure-Python by default. This is a Python variant of a [previous issue affecting protobuf-java](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-735f-pc8j-v9w8). ### Severity This is a potential Denial of Service. Parsing nested protobuf data creates unbounded recursions that can be abused by an attacker. ### Proof of Concept For reproduction details, please refer to the unit tests [decoder_test.py](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/main/python/google/protobuf/internal/decoder_test.py#L87-L98) and [message_test](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/main/python/google/protobuf/internal/message_test.py#L1436-L1478) ### Remediation and Mitigation A mitigation is available now. Please update to the latest available versions of the following packages: * protobuf-python(4.25.8, 5.29.5, 6.31.1)
describes (1)
Related CVEs.
| ID | severity | exploitable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2025-4565US | medium5.3 | — | ||
Any project that uses Protobuf Pure-Python backend to parse untrusted Protocol Buffers data containing an arbitrary number of recursive groups, recursive messages or a series of SG… | ||||
references
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobufPACKAGE
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/main/python/google/protobuf/internal/decoder_test.py#L87-L98WEB
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/main/python/google/protobuf/internal/message_test.py#L1436-L1478WEB
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/commit/17838beda2943d08b8a9d4df5b68f5f04f26d901WEB
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-735f-pc8j-v9w8WEB
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-8qvm-5x2c-j2w7WEB
- https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/tree/main/python#implementation-backendsWEB
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-4565ADVISORY
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