Vulnerability · Published May 16, 2026 · Assigned by VulnCheck

CVE-2020-37239libbabl 0.1.62 Broken Double Free Detection Memory Safety

Critical 9.8

In plain English

A critical-severity double free in libbabl from Gegl. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.5% (higher than 40% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)9.8Critical

Exploit odds (30 days)0.5%top 60.0% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: poc

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official 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.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS	babl	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2020-37239
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS	babl	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2020-37239
Ubuntu:25.10	babl	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2020-37239
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	babl	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2020-37239
Ubuntu:26.10	babl	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2020-37239

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
Gegl	libbabl	0.1.62

Weakness: CWE-415 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

ExploitDB-49259 exploit
Official Product Homepage product
Product Reference product
VulnCheck Advisory: libbabl 0.1.62 Broken Double Free Detection Memory Safety third-party-advisory