See how vim compares to other vendors in security performance
Last updated 19 June 2026
Last updated 2 July 2026
Last updated 2 July 2026
Last updated 2 July 2026
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0495, a Vimscript code injection vulnerability exists in s:NetrwBookHistSave() in the netrw plugin (runtime/pack/dist/opt/netrw/autoload/netrw.vim) when serializing browsed directory paths to the history file ~/.vim/.netrwhist. A directory name derived from the filesystem is interpolated into a single-quoted Vimscript string literal without escaping embedded single quotes, allowing a crafted directory name to break out of the string context and execute arbitrary Vimscript, including shell commands via system() and :!, the next time the history file is sourced. This issue has been patched in version 9.2.0495.
Last updated 13 July 2026
Last updated 13 July 2026
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0653, the treecountwords() function in src/spellfile.c fills in the word-count fields of a spell-file word trie by walking it iteratively with a depth counter. The counter is bounded only by the trie structure itself; it is never checked against the size of the fixed MAXWLEN-element stack arrays it indexes (arridx[], curi[], wordcount[]). A crafted .spl/.sug file pair, loaded when the user invokes spell suggestion, can drive the descent arbitrarily deep, so the function writes past the end of those arrays. This is a stack out-of-bounds write that corrupts the call frame and crashes the editor. This vulnerability is fixed in 9.2.0653.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0698, the single-byte branch of spellsoundfoldsofo() in src/spell.c translates a word through a spell file's SOFO (sound-folding) byte map into a caller-owned result buffer. Its copy loop advances the output index ri with no upper bound and terminates only on the input NUL, writing one byte per input byte into the MAXWLEN-element stack buffer the caller provides. A word longer than MAXWLEN, passed to soundfold() (or reached via sound-based spell suggestion) while a SOFO-based spell language is active, therefore writes past the end of that buffer. This is a stack out-of-bounds write that corrupts the call frame and crashes the editor. This vulnerability is fixed in 9.2.0698.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0735, the C omni-completion script in runtime/autoload/ccomplete.vim interpolates the typeref: or typename: extension field of a tags entry, without escaping, into a :vimgrep pattern that is run through :execute. Because :vimgrep honors the bar as a command separator, a crafted tag field can close the search pattern and append an arbitrary Ex command; opening a hostile .c file whose project tags file contains such an entry and invoking C omni-completion runs that command as the editing user. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0735.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0699, Vim's Python omni-completion (runtime/autoload/python3complete.vim and the legacy pythoncomplete.vim) executes reconstructed function and class definitions from the current buffer with exec() as part of populating the completion dictionary. When reconstructing that source, each scope's docstring is inserted verbatim between triple quotes with no escaping, so a hostile buffer can break out of the triple-quoted literal and execute attacker-controlled Python during omni-completion. This vulnerability is fixed in 9.2.0699.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0846, setsofo() in src/spellfile.c reuses slsalfirst[] without resetting values left by setsalfirst(), so a crafted spell file containing an SNSAL section before an SNSOFO section causes under-counted mapping lists and attacker-influenced writes beyond a heap allocation. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0846.
A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in vim up to 9.1.1096. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file src/main.c. The manipulation of the argument --log leads to memory corruption. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. Upgrading to version 9.1.1097 is able to address this issue. The patch is identified as c5654b84480822817bb7b69ebc97c174c91185e9. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.
Last updated 2 April 2025
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0841, propaddone() in src/textprop.c uses the proplen value from gettextprops() to increment a uint16t property count beyond 0xffff, wrapping the count to zero and copying existing text-property records into a heap allocation sized for none of them. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0841.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. From 9.2.0469 until 9.2.0843, popupmarkopacityzindex() in src/popupwin.c can use a negative wwinrow for a text-property-anchored popup with clipwindow and opacity, indexing before the screen array instead of accounting for wpopuptopoff and causing an out-of-bounds read and conditional write. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0843.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0839, the runtime/ftplugin/sh.vim, runtime/ftplugin/zsh.vim, and runtime/ftplugin/ps1.vim filetype plugins pass attacker-controlled Visual-mode selections from K through keywordprg commands without safely separating shell arguments. fnameescape() and PATHESCCHARS do not neutralize shell metacharacters before ShKeywordPrg, ZshKeywordPrg, or GetHelp invokes bash, zsh, or PowerShell, allowing arbitrary operating-system commands to execute with the privileges of the user running Vim. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0839.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. From 9.2.0511 until 9.2.0844, jsondecodeitem() in src/json.c can retain a stale pointer after jsondecodestring() invokes channelfill() to refill and free the current buffer, causing the error path to read freed memory instead of reader->jsbuf + reader->jsused when an invalid JSON string spans buffers. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0844.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0840, runtime/plugin/netrwPlugin.vim loads netrw and runtime/pack/dist/opt/netrw/autoload/netrw.vim constructs Bookmarks, History, and Targets menu entries by interpolating attacker-controlled directory paths into executed :menu commands. s:NetrwBookmarkMenu(), s:NetrwTgtMenu(), g:netrwmenuescape, EXTRLBAR, and netrw#MakeTgt() fail to neutralize the | command separator or single quotes at five construction sites, allowing a crafted path browsed or bookmarked in GUI Vim to execute arbitrary Ex and operating-system commands. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0840.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0847, runtime/autoload/vimball.vim allows a crafted vimball member named .VimballRecord to overwrite the installation record with attacker-chosen commands. When vimball#RmVimball() later processes the matching record entry, the stored Ex commands, including operating-system commands invoked through :!, execute with the privileges of the user running Vim. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0847.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0842, the socket server backend in src/socketserver.c accepts unbounded client connections in socketserveraccept(), causing descriptors to overflow fdset structures in src/channel.c and fixed-size struct pollfd arrays in src/osunix.c, which allows a local process that can connect to the server socket to corrupt stack memory or terminate the Vim server. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0842.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0276, a modeline sandbox bypass in Vim allows arbitrary OS command execution when a user opens a crafted file. The complete, guitabtooltip and printheader options are missing the PMLE flag, allowing a modeline to be executed. Additionally, the mapset() function lacks a checksecure() call, allowing it to be abused from sandboxed expressions. Commit 9.2.0276 fixes the issue.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0276, a modeline sandbox bypass in Vim allows arbitrary OS command execution when a user opens a crafted file. The complete, guitabtooltip and printheader options are missing the PMLE flag, allowing a modeline to be executed. Additionally, the mapset() function lacks a checksecure() call, allowing it to be abused from sandboxed expressions. Commit 9.2.0276 fixes the issue.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.1.2132, a heap buffer overflow vulnerability exists in Vim's tag file resolution logic when processing the 'helpfile' option. The vulnerability is located in the gettagfname() function in src/tag.c. When processing help file tags, Vim copies the user-controlled 'helpfile' option value into a fixed-size heap buffer of MAXPATHL + 1 bytes (typically 4097 bytes) using an unsafe STRCPY() operation without any bounds checking. This issue has been patched in version 9.1.2132.
Vim has OS Command Injection in netrw
Vim has a heap-buffer-overflow and a segmentation fault
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.1.2132, a heap buffer overflow vulnerability exists in Vim's tag file resolution logic when processing the 'helpfile' option. The vulnerability is located in the gettagfname() function in src/tag.c. When processing help file tags, Vim copies the user-controlled 'helpfile' option value into a fixed-size heap buffer of MAXPATHL + 1 bytes (typically 4097 bytes) using an unsafe STRCPY() operation without any bounds checking. This issue has been patched in version 9.1.2132.
Vim affected by Command injection via newline in glob()
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0073, an OS command injection vulnerability exists in the netrw standard plugin bundled with Vim. By inducing a user to open a crafted URL (e.g., using the scp:// protocol handler), an attacker can execute arbitrary shell commands with the privileges of the Vim process. Version 9.2.0073 fixes the issue.
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Versions prior to 9.2.0077 have a heap-buffer-overflow and a segmentation fault (SEGV) exist in Vim's swap file recovery logic. Both are caused by unvalidated fields read from crafted pointer blocks within a swap file. Version 9.2.0077 fixes the issue.