CVE-2023-5072 — json
HIGHCVE-2023-5072 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-770 vulnerability in org.json:json. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.json:json — see the affected versions and patch details below.
DoS Vulnerability in JSON-Java
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-5072.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-5072 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 376,715 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.json:jsonReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Denial of Service in JSON-Java versions up to and including 20230618. A bug in the parser means that an input string of modest size can lead to indefinite amounts of memory being used.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.json:json | all versions | 20231013org.json:json:20231013 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.json:json, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.json:json to 20231013 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-5072 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-5072 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-5072. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This vulnerability may cause denial of service with a small string input, causing the server to be unresponsive easily, hence the Important impact.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | see advisory | RHSA-2024:3752 |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | hawtio-war | RHSA-2024:3762 |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | hawtio-war | RHSA-2024:4271 |
| Red Hat AMQ Streams 2.6.0 | see advisory | RHSA-2023:7678 |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4 for Quarkus 3 | see advisory | RHSA-2023:7617 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.13.0 | JSON-java | RHSA-2024:3354 |
| RHINT Camel-K 1.10.5 | JSON-java | RHSA-2024:0148 |
| RHINT Camel-Springboot 3.20.4 | JSON-java | RHSA-2023:7845 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-5072 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-5072 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.