Submit #911136: DaveGamble cJSON v1.7.19 Use After Freeinfo

TitleDaveGamble cJSON v1.7.19 Use After Free
DescriptionA heap-use-after-free (UAF) exists in cJSON's RFC 7386 MergePatch implementation. When cJSONUtils_MergePatch() is called with a non-object patch (e.g., an array), the merge_patch() function in cJSON_Utils.c frees the arget object at line 1328, then calls cJSON_Duplicate(patch, 1) which internally calls cJSON_Duplicate_rec() at line 2808 of cJSON.c. The cJSON_Duplicate_rec() function dereferences item->type on the already-freed object: the freed heap memory gets reallocated for the duplicate tree, and the original freed memory region is then read, triggering a heap-use-after-free.(CWE-416 Use After Free)
Source⚠️ https://github.com/DaveGamble/cJSON/issues/1060
User
 lrrh (UID 100159)
Submission07/30/2026 18:13 (1 month ago)
Moderation09/09/2026 18:21 (1 month later)
StatusAccepted
VulDB entry401815 [DaveGamble cJSON up to 1.7.19 cJSON_Utils.c cJSONUtils_MergePatch use after free]
Points20

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