GHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg
HIGHGHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Reachable Assertion vulnerability in io.grpc:grpc-protobuf. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
gRPC Reachable Assertion issue
Blast Radius
io.grpc:grpc-protobuf🐍grpcio💎grpcReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven, PyPI, RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
There exists an vulnerability causing an abort() to be called in gRPC. The following headers cause gRPC's C++ implementation to abort() when called via http2:
te: x (x != trailers)
:scheme: x (x != http, https)
grpclb_client_stats: x (x == anything)
On top of sending one of those headers, a later header must be sent that gets the total header size past 8KB. We recommend upgrading past git commit 2485fa94bd8a723e5c977d55a3ce10b301b437f8 or v1.53 and above.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | io.grpc:grpc-protobuf | ≥ 1.51.0&&< 1.53.0 | 1.53.0 |
| 🐍PyPI | grpcio | ≥ 1.51.0&&< 1.53.0 | 1.53.0 |
| 💎RubyGems | grpc | ≥ 1.51.0&&< 1.53.0 | 1.53.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for io.grpc:grpc-protobuf. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update io.grpc:grpc-protobuf to 1.53.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-6628-q6j9-w8vg across Maven, PyPI, RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.