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Vim CVE-2025-26603

MEDIUM
Use After Free (CWE-416)
2025-02-18 security-advisories@github.com
Information Disclosure Use After Free Memory Corruption Red Hat Vim Suse Hci Compute Node Netapp
4.2
CVSS 3.1 · GitHub Advisory
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Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
CWE-416
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2021 - Vulnerable and Outdated Components
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

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Impact

CVSS score of 4.2 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, high complexity, low privileges required, user interaction required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.05%.
Exploit ScenarioDerived

A local attacker with access to the system could access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.0% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Mar 28, 2026

Vim is a greatly improved version of the good old UNIX editor Vi. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.2). This Use After Free vulnerability could allow attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.

RemediationAI

A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Use smart pointers or garbage-collected languages. Set pointers to NULL after freeing. Enable memory sanitizers.

Affects your stack

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Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as Use After Free (CWE-416), which allows attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application. Vim is a greatly improved version of the good old UNIX editor Vi. Vim allows to redirect screen messages using the :redir ex command to register, variables and files. It also allows to show the contents of registers using the :registers or :display ex command. When redirecting the output of :display to a register, Vim will free the register content before storing the new content in the register. Now when redirecting the :display command to a register that is being displayed, Vim will free the content while shortly afterwards trying to access it, which leads to a use-after-free. Vim pre 9.1.1115 checks in the ex_display() function, that it does not try to redirect to a register while displaying this register at the same time. However this check is not complete, and so Vim does not check the + and * registers (which typically donate the X11/clipboard registers, and when a clipboard connection is not possible will fall back to use register 0 instead. In Patch 9.1.1115 Vim will therefore skip outputting to register zero when trying to redirect to the clipboard registers * or +. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Affected products include: Vim, Netapp Hci Compute Node.

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Severity by source

GitHub Advisory PRIMARY 4.2 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
SUSE MEDIUM
Red Hat 4.2 LOW

Primary rating from GitHub Advisory.

CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch released
Mar 28, 2026 - 18:27 nvd
Patch available
CVE Published
Feb 18, 2025 - 19:15 nvd
MEDIUM 4.2

DescriptionGitHub Advisory

Vim is a greatly improved version of the good old UNIX editor Vi. Vim allows to redirect screen messages using the :redir ex command to register, variables and files. It also allows to show the contents of registers using the :registers or :display ex command. When redirecting the output of :display to a register, Vim will free the register content before storing the new content in the register. Now when redirecting the :display command to a register that is being displayed, Vim will free the content while shortly afterwards trying to access it, which leads to a use-after-free. Vim pre 9.1.1115 checks in the ex_display() function, that it does not try to redirect to a register while displaying this register at the same time. However this check is not complete, and so Vim does not check the + and * registers (which typically donate the X11/clipboard registers, and when a clipboard connection is not possible will fall back to use register 0 instead. In Patch 9.1.1115 Vim will therefore skip outputting to register zero when trying to redirect to the clipboard registers * or +. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Organizations using Vim should be aware of moderate risk from CVE-2025-26603, a use-after-free vulnerability rated CVSS 4.2. Exploitation could compromise the security of affected deployments. A patch is available and should be applied during regular vulnerability management.

Business Impact: Low
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch. If patching is delayed: enable ASLR/DEP, apply network segmentation.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.0%
Top 85% exploitable
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium
NVD CVE.org EPSS Vendor GitHub

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.0%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
Low

Priority Score

21
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +21
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Use After Free HIGH

Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.

Memory Corruption HIGH

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Information Disclosure MEDIUM

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

Affected Products (CPE)GitHub Advisory

cpe:2.3:a:vim:vim:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:h:netapp:hci_compute_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More in Vim

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CVE-2022-3520 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Dec 02

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GitHub repository vim/vim prior to 9.0.0765. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vuln
CVE-2022-0729 HIGH POC
8.8 Feb 23

Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset in GitHub repository vim/vim prior to 8.2.4440. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this

CVE-2026-34714 HIGH POC
8.6 Mar 30

Code execution vulnerability in Vim before 9.2.0272 allows attackers to gain immediate arbitrary command execution upon

CVE-2019-12735 HIGH POC
8.6 Jun 05

getchar.c in Vim before 8.1.1365 and Neovim before 0.3.6 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands via th
CVE-2021-3968 HIGH POC
8.0 Nov 19

vim is vulnerable to Heap-based Buffer Overflow. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploita
CVE-2022-1616 HIGH POC
7.8 May 07

Use after free in append_command in GitHub repository vim/vim prior to 8.2.4895. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vu
CVE-2022-1619 HIGH POC
7.8 May 08

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in function cmdline_erase_chars in GitHub repository vim/vim prior to 8.2.4899. Rated high se
CVE-2021-4136 HIGH POC
7.8 Dec 19

vim is vulnerable to Heap-based Buffer Overflow. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication
CVE-2021-3973 HIGH POC
7.8 Nov 19

vim is vulnerable to Heap-based Buffer Overflow. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication
CVE-2021-3927 HIGH POC
7.8 Nov 05

vim is vulnerable to Heap-based Buffer Overflow. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication
CVE-2022-2125 HIGH POC
7.8 Jun 19

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GitHub repository vim/vim prior to 8.2. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability
CVE-2022-2126 HIGH POC
7.8 Jun 19

Out-of-bounds Read in GitHub repository vim/vim prior to 8.2. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no a

Same weakness CWE-416 – Use After Free

View all
CVE-2019-0708 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2015-5119 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2014-0322 HIGH POC
8.8
CVE-2012-4792 HIGH POC
8.8
CVE-2009-4324 HIGH POC
7.8
CVE-2015-0313 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2015-5122 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2013-2551 HIGH POC
8.8

Same technique Information Disclosure

View all
CVE-2019-2725 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2021-34523 CRITICAL POC
9.0
CVE-2013-2251 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2017-5638 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2025-24813 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2025-68613 HIGH POC
8.8
CVE-2015-1701 HIGH POC
7.8
CVE-2017-0147 HIGH POC
7.5

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Medium
Product Status
SLES15-SP5-CHOST-BYOS-SAP-CCloud Fixed
SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS Fixed
SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-Aliyun Fixed
SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-Azure Fixed
SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-EC2 Fixed

References

Advisories & patches
PATCH https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/c0f0e2380e5954f4a52a131bf6b8 ADVISORY https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-63p5-mwg2-787v REF https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250306-0003/

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