Memory corruption via overwritten allocation-state signature
Published May 16, 2026 · Updated May 16, 2026
Double-free detection failure in GEGL babl 0.1.62 allows attackers to corrupt memory by freeing the same allocation twice. BablAllocInfo stores an allocation-state signature inside the heap chunk, but libc allocator metadata overwrites that field after babl_free() releases the chunk, so a second babl_free() call is misclassified instead of detected. Practical reachability depends on a calling application exposing attacker-controlled allocation lifecycles; the public artifact demonstrates detector bypass, not code execution.
Summary
What happened
Double-free detection failure in GEGL babl 0.1.62 allows attackers to corrupt memory by freeing the same allocation twice. BablAllocInfo stores an allocation-state signature inside the heap chunk, but libc allocator metadata overwrites that field after babl_free() releases the chunk, so a second babl_free() call is misclassified instead of detected. Practical reachability depends on a calling application exposing attacker-controlled allocation lifecycles; the public artifact demonstrates detector bypass, not code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-37239
- Published
- May 16, 2026
- Updated
- May 16, 2026
- Vendor
- GEGL
- Product
- babl
- Classifications
- CWE-415
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 16, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 16, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=0.1.62
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- libbabl 0.1.62 - Broken Double Free Detection (PoC)proof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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