CVE-2020-37239 | libbabl 0.1.62 contains a broken double free detection vulne… | CVSS 9.8 CRITICAL

Description

libbabl 0.1.62 contains a broken double free detection vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass memory safety checks by exploiting signature overwriting in freed chunks. Attackers can call babl_free() twice on the same pointer without triggering detection, as libc's malloc metadata overwrites babl's signature field upon freeing, enabling potential memory corruption and code execution.

Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2020-37239
State: PUBLISHED
Assigner: VulnCheck
Reserved: 2026-05-15 14:52 UTC
Published: 2026-05-16 15:25 UTC
Last updated: 2026-05-18 18:09 UTC
Primary CWE: CWE-415
Double Free
Vendor / Product: Gegl / libbabl
Sources: cve.org · NVD

Severity & Metrics

9.8 CRITICAL CVSS 3.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

SSVC — CISA Coordinator

Exploitation: PoC
Automatable: yes
Tech. Impact: total

Affected products (1)

Vendor	Product	Platform	Versions
Gegl	libbabl	—	0.1.62

Weakness (CWE)

CWE	Source	Description
CWE-415	cna	Double Free

CVSS scores (2)

Score	Severity	Version	Source	Vector
9.8	CRITICAL	3.1	cna	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
9.3	CRITICAL	4.0	cna	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

References (4)

ExploitDB-49259 https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/49259
Official Product Homepage https://www.gegl.org
Product Reference https://www.gegl.org/babl/
VulnCheck Advisory: libbabl 0.1.62 Broken Double Free Detection Memory Safety https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/libbabl-broken-double-free-detection-memory-safety