CVE-2023-52302 is a medium severity (4.7) null pointer dereference in paddle.nextafter in PaddlePaddle before 2.6.0. Invalid input can crash the process and cause a denial of service. The maintainers fixed it in 2.6.0, so upgrade PaddlePaddle to 2.6.0 or later and keep untrusted input away from this function.
What's affected
The NVD record names PaddlePaddle, the open source deep learning framework from the PaddlePaddle project, in every release before 2.6.0. The project's own advisory, PDSA-2023-011, says the fix will be included in PaddlePaddle 2.6.0 and points to the commit 19da5c0c4d8c.
The weakness classes are CWE-476. The record's vector is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L, which gives 4.7 (Medium). The advisory itself does not state a score.
The advisory titles the problem as a null pointer dereference in paddle.nextafter. A null pointer dereference happens when native code follows a pointer that was never set to a real object. In a C++ extension that usually ends the whole process. The weakness class is CWE-476, and the damage is limited to availability, which is why the record rates it medium.
How to check if you're exposed
Paddle ships on PyPI as the paddlepaddle package, and GPU builds use their own package names, so search for anything containing paddle. In the Python environment where you run the framework:
pip list | grep -i paddle
python -c "import paddle; print(paddle.__version__)"
Any version below 2.6.0 is in the affected range. Check every environment, including virtual environments, notebooks, training servers, containers and CI images, since each one carries its own copy.
To find where the library is pulled in, search your requirements files, pyproject files and lockfiles for paddle. Then ask a second question: does any code path hand untrusted input to paddle.nextafter? The advisory describes the weakness at the level of that one function, so your real exposure depends on whether your application reaches it.
What to do now
- Find every environment that has PaddlePaddle installed, using the commands above.
- Upgrade to 2.6.0 or later, for example with
pip install -U paddlepaddle, then run your tests, since a framework release can change behaviour. - Pin the new version in your requirements file or lockfile so a rebuild does not bring the old one back.
- Until you upgrade, do not pass untrusted values to paddle.nextafter. Validate shapes, sizes and parameters before they reach the framework.
- Rebuild and redeploy container images that bundle the framework, because old layers keep the old library.
Why it matters
A null pointer dereference happens when native code follows a pointer that was never set to a real object. In a C++ extension that usually ends the whole process. The weakness class is CWE-476, and the damage is limited to availability, which is why the record rates it medium.
Most applications never feed attacker controlled shapes into a tensor operation. A model served over an API, or a notebook service that accepts user supplied data, is where this matters. This CVE is one of a group of PaddlePaddle issues disclosed together and fixed in the same release, so the single upgrade covers its siblings. It is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and the advisory does not report exploitation in the wild. Safeguard's reachability analysis is built for this question, whether a vulnerable function is actually called by your code. You can also run the free in-browser dependency scan at gold.safeguard.sh/scan.
Quick check
Which PaddlePaddle versions does CVE-2023-52302 affect?
The NVD record and the advisory PDSA-2023-011 say versions before 2.6.0. The fix is included in 2.6.0, so that release or later is the target.
Does CVE-2023-52302 affect my application if I never call paddle.nextafter?
The advisory describes the weakness in that one function, so code that never reaches it is not exposed through this CVE. Confirm by searching your code and your dependencies, and upgrade anyway because the fix is a routine release.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
