Medium [CVE-2026-54270] Denial of Service due to excessive memory consumption
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-54270 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3, Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI).
Aggregated and source-linked by VulniPulse. Data sources, validation and limitations.
VulniPulse record published Record updated
Summary
protobufjs compiles protobuf definitions into JavaScript (JS) functions. From 8.2.0 to 8.4.2, protobufjs preserved unknown wire elements in message.$unknowns and did not provide a decode-time option to discard unknown fields before retaining them.
A crafted protobuf payload containing many unknown fields could therefore cause a decoded message to retain substantially more memory than the input size would suggest, even when unknown-field round-tripping is not needed. protobufjs 8.5.0 added the relevant decode-time options, allowing applications that decode untrusted protobuf data to disable unknown-field retention during decode. protobufjs 8.6.2 flips the default so unknown fields are discarded unless explicitly opted into.
A flaw was found in protobufjs. A remote attacker could send a specially crafted protobuf payload containing numerous unknown fields.
This could cause the decoded message to retain substantially more memory than expected, leading to excessive memory consumption and potentially a Denial of Service (DoS) for applications processing untrusted protobuf data. Red Hat rates this issue as having Low impact for Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI bootc images.
Although protobufjs is present as a transitive dependency, the vulnerable parsing path is not exercised in normal product operation. Red Hat severity: Low — CVSS 5.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L).
Is CVE-2026-54270 exploited?
No exploitation is reported in the sources VulniPulse tracks: CVE-2026-54270 is not in the CISA KEV catalog (checked ) and this advisory does not report exploitation. That is not proof the vulnerability cannot be exploited.
How do I fix CVE-2026-54270?
The advisory VulniPulse tracks names no fixed release. Follow Red Hat's guidance for workarounds and updates.
Confirm against the vendor advisory before you patch.
- < 8.2.0
- < 8.4.2
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists. Confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- No specific mitigation required for unaffected runtime paths.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
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