Java: DoS Vulnerability in JSON-JAVA

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2023-5072: 1.74% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 77.77 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary A denial of service vulnerability in JSON-Java was discovered by 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. Severity High - Because this is an already-fixed DoS vulnerability, the only remaining impact possible is for existing binaries that have not been updated yet. Proof of Concept When run, this reports that the input string has length 367. Then, after a long pause, the program crashes inside new JSONObject…

Published by the source

14 Nov 2023, 22:24 UTC

Last modified by the source

22 Aug 2025, 20:55 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 16:39 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-4jq9-2xhw-jpx7

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-5072

Advisory: Java: DoS Vulnerability in JSON-JAVA
IDs: CVE-2023-5072, GHSA-4jq9-2xhw-jpx7
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-5072 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 16:39 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: org.json:json 20231013. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Maven org.json:json: affected <= 20230618; fixed in 20231013

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Maven org.json:json: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on org.json:json.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4jq9-2xhw-jpx7 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-4jq9-2xhw-jpx7 lists affected ranges: Maven org.json:json >=0 <=20230618)

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