CVE-2023-52739: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-8j29-hrg8-7mvc
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CVSS 5.5
CWE-415
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2023-52739 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-415: Double Free) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product calls free() twice on the same memory address.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2023-52739 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2023-52739
GHSA Identifier GHSA-8j29-hrg8-7mvc
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.5
CWE Classification CWE-415: Double Free
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2023-52739

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2023-52739, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-415: Double Free, where the product calls free() twice on the same memory address. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Fix page corruption caused by racy check in __free_pages When we upgraded our kernel, we started seeing some page corruption like the following consistently: BUG: Bad page state in process ganesha.nfsd pfn:1304ca page:0000000022261c55 refcount:0 mapcount:-128 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x1304ca flags: 0x17ffffc0000000() raw: 0017ffffc0000000 ffff8a513ffd4c98 ffffeee24b35ec08 0000000000000000 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000001 00000000ffffff7f 0000000000000000 page dumped because: nonzero mapcount CPU: 0 PID: 15567 Comm: ganesha.nfsd Kdump: loaded Tainted: P B O 5.10.158-1.nutanix.20221209.el7.x86_64 #1 Hardware name: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 04/05/2016 Call Trace: dump_stack+0x74/0x96 bad_page.cold+0x63/0x94 check_new_page_bad+0x6d/0x80 rmqueue+0x46e/0x970 get_page_from_freelist+0xcb/0x3f0 ? _cond_resched+0x19/0x40 __alloc_pages_nodemask+0x164/0x300 alloc_pages_current+0x87/0xf0 skb_page_frag_refill+0x84/0x110 ... Sometimes, it would also show up as corruption in the free list pointer and cause crashes. After bisecting the issue, we found the issue started from commit e320d3012d25 ("mm/page_alloc.c: fix freeing non-compound pages"): if (put_page_testzero(page)) free_the_page(page, order); else if (!PageHead(page)) while (order-- > 0) free_the_page(page + (1 << order), order); So the problem is the check PageHead is racy because at this point we already dropped our reference to the page. So even if we came in with compound page, the page can already be freed and PageHead can return false and we will end up freeing all the tail pages causing double free.

References

NVD — CVE-2023-52739 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52739
git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a626e27f9... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a626e27f984dfbe96bd8e4fd08f20a2ede3ea23
git.kernel.org/stable/c/3af734f3ea... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3af734f3eac6f70ef8e272a80da40544b9d0f2b5
git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b4c045a98... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b4c045a98f53a8890a94bb5846a390c8e39e673
git.kernel.org/stable/c/462a8e08e0... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/462a8e08e0e6287e5ce13187257edbf24213ed03

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-52739?
CVE-2023-52739 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-415: Double Free.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2023-52739?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-52739?
CVE-2023-52739 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2023-52739?
CVE-2023-52739 is classified under CWE-415: Double Free (The product calls free() twice on the same memory address.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2023-52739?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-8j29-hrg8-7mvc",
  "modified" : "2025-09-23T21:30:53Z",
  "published" : "2024-05-21T18:31:19Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-52739" ],
  "details" : "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nFix page corruption caused by racy check in __free_pages\n\nWhen we upgraded our kernel, we started seeing some page corruption like\nthe following consistently:\n\n  BUG: Bad page state in process ganesha.nfsd  pfn:1304ca\n  page:0000000022261c55 refcount:0 mapcount:-128 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x1304ca\n  flags: 0x17ffffc0000000()\n  raw: 0017ffffc0000000 ffff8a513ffd4c98 ffffeee24b35ec08 0000000000000000\n  raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000001 00000000ffffff7f 0000000000000000\n  page dumped because: nonzero mapcount\n  CPU: 0 PID: 15567 Comm: ganesha.nfsd Kdump: loaded Tainted: P    B      O      5.10.158-1.nutanix.20221209.el7.x86_64 #1\n  Hardware name: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 04/05/2016\n  Call Trace:\n   dump_stack+0x74/0x96\n   bad_page.cold+0x63/0x94\n   check_new_page_bad+0x6d/0x80\n   rmqueue+0x46e/0x970\n   get_page_from_freelist+0xcb/0x3f0\n   ? _cond_resched+0x19/0x40\n   __alloc_pages_nodemask+0x164/0x300\n   alloc_pages_current+0x87/0xf0\n   skb_page_frag_refill+0x84/0x110\n   ...\n\nSometimes, it would also show up as corruption in the free list pointer\nand cause crashes.\n\nAfter bisecting the issue, we found the issue started from commit\ne320d3012d25 (\"mm/page_alloc.c: fix freeing non-compound pages\"):\n\n\tif (put_page_testzero(page))\n\t\tfree_the_page(page, order);\n\telse if (!PageHead(page))\n\t\twhile (order-- > 0)\n\t\t\tfree_the_page(page + (1 << order), order);\n\nSo the problem is the check PageHead is racy because at this point we\nalready dropped our reference to the page.  So even if we came in with\ncompound page, the page can already be freed and PageHead can return\nfalse and we will end up freeing all the tail pages causing double free.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52739"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a626e27f984dfbe96bd8e4fd08f20a2ede3ea23"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3af734f3eac6f70ef8e272a80da40544b9d0f2b5"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b4c045a98f53a8890a94bb5846a390c8e39e673"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/462a8e08e0e6287e5ce13187257edbf24213ed03"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-415" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2024-05-21T16:15:13Z"
  }
}