What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-52757: Ghidra < 12.1 - Heap-use-after-free in HighVariable::merge() during decompilation

• Severity: medium (CVSS 4.4 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: yes
• Published: 2026-06-10 · updated 2026-10-26
• Weakness: CWE-416

Description

Ghidra before 12.1 contains a heap-use-after-free vulnerability in the decompiler's HighVariable::merge() function during the variable merging pass. Attackers can trigger this vulnerability by crafting a binary that causes stale pointers in the HighIntersectTest::highedgemap cache to be dereferenced, reading and writing the flags field of freed heap memory when a user opens the binary in Ghidra's decompiler view.

Affected products

• nationalsecurityagency ghidra: before 12.1 — fixed in 12.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: nationalsecurityagency ghidra 12.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra/security/advisories/GHSA-8jqp-qv73-395r
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/ghidra-heap-use-after-free-in-highvariable-merge-during-decompilation
• https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra/security/advisories/GHSA-8jqp-qv73-395r

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