Will the BBPB tool resume support for GROUP type data?

[waconde]

I know Google removed the GROUP type, but damn, they are still using that type of value themselves! If you need a test case, I can provide one. I have put a Protobuf byte stream that triggers the "GROUP wire types not supported" error into the Base64 String. You can observe the error by executing the simple code below:

import base64
import blackboxprotobuf

protobuf_str = "8yBIFGG9UjqyZqTM0/yijHK2osuGG4EJ9Sp1QgV2a4c="
protobuf_bytes = base64.b64decode(protobuf_str)
message, message_type = blackboxprotobuf.decode_message(protobuf_bytes)
print(message)

Exception like this:

How should I handle a Protobuf containing the GROUP type?

[rwinkelmaier-ncc]

Hi!

I did not have any plans to add support for the GROUP types. I think it would probably be doable, but would make the code a bit more complex, so I’ve been avoiding it if it’s not necessary. I’ve got some ideas for implementing it now, so might give it a shot.

However, are you certain that the payload is protobuf encoded? I often see the group type error when it’s not valid protobuf because that’s one of the first checks that can fail. I will add a todo to make the error messages more clear either way.

I tried decoding with protoc —decode_raw and wasn’t able to decode either. I also did a quick experiment and had bbpb ignore group tags by setting length = 0 instead of throwing an exception, and it failed later on with a different unknown wire type elsewhere in the payload.

I can try doing some more investigating later, but I suspect it’s either not valid protobuf or it could have another layer of encoding, such as compression or encryption. Looks like it’s exactly 32 bytes so could be a hashed or encrypted data.

[waconde]

Hi!

I did not have any plans to add support for the GROUP types. I think it would probably be doable, but would make the code a bit more complex, so I’ve been avoiding it if it’s not necessary. I’ve got some ideas for implementing it now, so might give it a shot.

However, are you certain that the payload is protobuf encoded? I often see the group type error when it’s not valid protobuf because that’s one of the first checks that can fail. I will add a todo to make the error messages more clear either way.

I tried decoding with protoc —decode_raw and wasn’t able to decode either. I also did a quick experiment and had bbpb ignore group tags by setting length = 0 instead of throwing an exception, and it failed later on with a different unknown wire type elsewhere in the payload.

I can try doing some more investigating later, but I suspect it’s either not valid protobuf or it could have another layer of encoding, such as compression or encryption. Looks like it’s exactly 32 bytes so could be a hashed or encrypted data.

Oh, Thanks for your reply! Yes, maybe it's not a Protobuf-encoded byte, and as for causing the GROUP type error, it might just be a coincidence, and I'll continue to look into it.

[waconde]

No more questions, Thanks