AGENTS.md

@@ -292,7 +292,8 @@ the file.
 - A string body is written in the alphabet its own `data_coding` names, and one that alphabet cannot
   carry is refused by the codec — `message_payload` on the same terms as `short_message`.
 - A GSM 03.38 message declares `data_coding` 0x00, and an inbound 0x01 is still read as GSM.
-- Every text field on the wire is latin1, and a character past `U+00FF` is refused.
+- Every text field on the wire is latin1, and what the field cannot carry is refused rather than
+  truncated.
 
 ### [The session's life](docs/decisions.md#the-sessions-life)
 

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
   the octet and then masked bit 7 reading it back; `destination_addr`, `system_id`, `message_id`,
   `service_type` and the C-Octet String TLVs were affected the same way. A character past `U+00FF`
   in one of those fields is now refused, where it used to go out as its low octet.
+- A `U+0000` inside a C-Octet String — `source_addr`, `message_id`, `system_id` and the rest — is
+  refused. The peer reads such a field to its first NULL, so one sent inside the value shifted every
+  mandatory field behind it while `command_length` still counted the whole string. An Octet String
+  carries a NULL as before; its length octet is what ends it.
 
 ## 0.5.0
 

README.md

@@ -289,7 +289,8 @@ await session.sendSms({
 
 **Addresses.** `sourceAddrTon` and `destinationAddrTon` default to 5 for an alphanumeric address
 and 1 for a numeric one; the NPI fields default to 0. An address is latin1, so `Kaffeé` goes out and
-comes back as its own octets; a character past `U+00FF` is refused rather than sent truncated.
+comes back as its own octets; a character past `U+00FF`, or a `U+0000` that would end the field
+early, is refused rather than sent truncated.
 
 **Encoding.**
 

docs/decisions.md

@@ -478,8 +478,9 @@ rule and an index of the titles below.
   concatenation reference rather than on `data_coding` — so a receipt or a segment that crossed the
   change reads exactly as it did.
 
-- **Every text field on the wire is latin1, and a character past `U+00FF` is refused.** Maintainer's
-  call, 2026-09-21, from the 0.6.0 correctness list: the codec read these fields with
+- **Every text field on the wire is latin1, and what the field cannot carry is refused rather than
+  truncated.** Maintainer's call, 2026-09-21, from the 0.6.0 correctness list: the codec read these
+  fields with
   `toString('ascii')`, which masks bit 7, and wrote them with `write(text, 'ascii')`, which does not,
   so an inbound `source_addr` of `Kaffeé` reached the application as `Kaffei` and
   `objToPdu(pduToObj(x))` was idempotent for none of `source_addr`, `destination_addr`, `system_id`,
@@ -494,7 +495,13 @@ rule and an index of the titles below.
   alphabet that cannot carry a message body is already handled. Rejected: reading latin1 and leaving
   the write spelled ASCII, which leaves two halves agreeing only by accident. Rejected: refusing the
   upper half on send to stay strict to 3.4's ASCII, which would drop exactly the traffic the read
-  keeps.
+  keeps. The security pass over this chunk found the field's other end open the same way: a caller's
+  own `U+0000` was written verbatim, and since the peer reads a C-Octet String to its first NULL,
+  every mandatory field behind it shifted under a `command_length` that had counted the whole string
+  — so an application forwarding a customer's sender id could have a PDU rewritten from inside one.
+  `wantCstringText()` refuses that where `wantText()` refuses the upper end. Rejected: refusing NULL
+  in every text field, which would buy one spelling by taking a legitimate octet away from the
+  length-prefixed Octet String, whose length octet is what ends it.
 
 ## The session's life
 

src/defs/types.ts

@@ -94,10 +94,30 @@ function pastLatin1(text: string): { err: Error } | undefined {
 }
 
 function wantText(value: ParamValue): Result<{ text: string }> {
-	if (typeof value === 'number') return { text: value.toString() };
-	if (typeof value !== 'string') return { err: new Error(`Expected a string, got ${typeof value}`) };
+	if (typeof value !== 'number' && typeof value !== 'string') {
+		return { err: new Error(`Expected a string, got ${typeof value}`) };
+	}
 
-	return pastLatin1(value) ?? { text: value };
+	const text = String(value);
+
+	return pastLatin1(text) ?? { text };
+}
+
+/** A C-Octet String ends at its first NULL, so one inside the value truncates the field on the peer. */
+function wantCstringText(value: ParamValue): Result<{ text: string }> {
+	const { err, text } = wantText(value);
+
+	if (err) return { err };
+
+	const index = text.indexOf('\u0000');
+
+	if (index === -1) return { text };
+
+	return {
+		err: new Error(
+			`U+0000 at index ${String(index)} would end the C-Octet String there, ${String(text.length - index - 1)} characters early`,
+		),
+	};
 }
 
 function wantBytes(value: ParamValue): Result<{ bytes: Buffer }> {
@@ -302,12 +322,12 @@ export const cstring: WireType<string> = {
 	default: '',
 	read: readCstring,
 	size(value) {
-		const { err, text } = wantText(value);
+		const { err, text } = wantCstringText(value);
 
 		return err ? { err } : { size: text.length + 1 };
 	},
 	write(value, buffer, offset) {
-		const { err, text } = wantText(value);
+		const { err, text } = wantCstringText(value);
 
 		return err ? { err } : writeCstring(text, buffer, offset);
 	},
@@ -555,12 +575,12 @@ export const tlv = {
 			return { bytesRead: length, value: buf.toString('latin1', offset, end) };
 		},
 		size(value: ParamValue) {
-			const { err, text } = wantText(value);
+			const { err, text } = wantCstringText(value);
 
 			return err ? { err } : { size: text.length + 1 };
 		},
 		write(value: ParamValue, buf: Buffer, offset: number) {
-			const { err, text } = wantText(value);
+			const { err, text } = wantCstringText(value);
 
 			return err ? { err } : writeCstring(text, buf, offset);
 		},

test/pdu.test.ts

@@ -145,6 +145,18 @@ describe('parsing real PDUs', () => {
 		assert.equal(decode(pdu).params.source_addr, 'Kaffeé');
 		assert.ok(objToPdu({ cmdName: 'deliver_sm', params: { source_addr: '一' } }).err instanceof Error);
 	});
+
+	// The peer reads source_addr to the first NULL and every mandatory field behind it shifts, so an
+	// application forwarding a customer's sender id could have a PDU rewritten under it.
+	test('refuses an address carrying its own terminator', () => {
+		const smuggled = objToPdu({
+			cmdName: 'submit_sm',
+			params: { destination_addr: '46709771337', source_addr: '46701113311\u0000EVIL' },
+		});
+
+		assert.ok(smuggled.err instanceof Error);
+		assert.equal(smuggled.buffer, undefined);
+	});
 });
 
 describe('encoding submit_sm', () => {

test/types.test.ts

@@ -83,6 +83,14 @@ describe('string (Octet String)', () => {
 		assert.ok(types.string.size('一').err instanceof Error);
 		assert.ok(types.string.write('一', Buffer.alloc(4), 0).err instanceof Error);
 	});
+
+	// Its length octet is what ends it, so unlike a C-Octet String it carries a NULL like any other.
+	test('carries a NULL octet, which its length octet already bounds', () => {
+		const target = Buffer.alloc(4);
+
+		assert.deepEqual(types.string.write('a\u0000b', target, 0), {});
+		assert.deepEqual(target, Buffer.from([3, 0x61, 0x00, 0x62]));
+	});
 });
 
 describe('cstring (C-Octet String)', () => {
@@ -128,6 +136,14 @@ describe('cstring (C-Octet String)', () => {
 		assert.ok(types.cstring.write('一', Buffer.alloc(4), 0).err instanceof Error);
 	});
 
+	// The field ends at its first NULL, so writing one smuggles a field boundary into the peer's
+	// parse: every mandatory field behind it shifts, under a command_length that counted the whole
+	// string.
+	test('refuses a NULL of its own rather than ending the field early', () => {
+		assert.ok(types.cstring.size('46701113311\u0000EVIL').err instanceof Error);
+		assert.ok(types.cstring.write('46701113311\u0000EVIL', Buffer.alloc(17), 0).err instanceof Error);
+	});
+
 	test('refuses a string with no terminator rather than running off the end', () => {
 		assert.ok(types.cstring.read(Buffer.from('abcd'), 0).err instanceof Error);
 	});
@@ -193,6 +209,7 @@ describe('text TLVs', () => {
 
 		assert.ok(types.tlv.cstring.size('一').err instanceof Error);
 		assert.ok(types.tlv.cstring.write('一', Buffer.alloc(4), 0).err instanceof Error);
+		assert.ok(types.tlv.cstring.write('a\u0000b', Buffer.alloc(4), 0).err instanceof Error);
 	});
 });