Handle unrecognized fields #72

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opened 2025-12-28 18:12:26 +00:00 by sami · 0 comments

sami commented

2025-12-28 18:12:26 +00:00

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Originally created by @cthulhu-rider on GitHub (Apr 12, 2022).

Unrecognized fields can be detected during unmarshaling of binary protobuf messages. These fields can carry sensitive data, so it seems that software should process them in a special way, such as denial of service or redirection to other parties.

Since almost all messages are signed/verified, unrecognized fields force verification failure even in case of correct signing. In this scenario sender will receive INCORRECT_SIGNATURE response status which is definitely unexpected.

I propose to think about possible reactions of applications on unrecognized fields and provide some functionality to catch/process them.

Originally created by @cthulhu-rider on GitHub (Apr 12, 2022). Unrecognized fields can be detected during unmarshaling of binary protobuf messages. These fields can carry sensitive data, so it seems that software should process them in a special way, such as denial of service or redirection to other parties. Since almost all messages are signed/verified, unrecognized fields force verification failure even in case of correct signing. In this scenario sender will receive `INCORRECT_SIGNATURE` response status which is definitely unexpected. I propose to think about possible reactions of applications on unrecognized fields and provide some functionality to catch/process them.