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Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-52859 · published 11 June 2026

CVE-2026-52859: Vim out-of-bounds read vulnerability

Vim · Vim

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0565, the update_snapshot() function in src/terminal.c copies the visible terminal screen into the scrollback buffer when a snapshot is taken. For each screen cell it walks the cell's chars[] array with no upper bound, stopping only when it encounters a NUL terminator. When a cell legitimately fills all VTERM_MAX_CHARS_PER_CELL (6) slots — a base character plus five combining marks — the bundled libvterm returns the array without a terminating NUL, so the loop reads past the fixed six-element array and appends the out-of-bounds values to a buffer reserved for only six characters. A program whose output is rendered inside a :terminal window can trigger this with a short byte sequence and no Vim scripting, leading to a crash. This issue has been patched in version 9.2.0565.

6.9 CVSS 4.0 Medium EPSS 0.55% · top 56.2% CWE-125 · Out-of-bounds read
6.9CVSS 4.0 base score
0.55%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
3References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0565, the update_snapshot() function in src/terminal.c copies the visible terminal screen into the scrollback buffer when a snapshot is taken. For each screen cell it walks the cell's chars[] array with no upper bound, stopping only when it encounters a NUL terminator. When a cell legitimately fills all VTERM_MAX_CHARS_PER_CELL (6) slots — a base character plus five combining marks — the bundled libvterm returns the array without a terminating NUL, so the loop reads past the fixed six-element array and appends the out-of-bounds values to a buffer reserved for only six characters. A program whose output is rendered inside a :terminal window can trigger this with a short byte sequence and no Vim scripting, leading to a crash. This issue has been patched in version 9.2.0565.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/63680c6d3d52477817b49cd1a66e7aabe8a7aa19 Patch
https://github.com/vim/vim/releases/tag/v9.2.0565 Release Notes
https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-47gw-8gc3-mgcm Vendor Advisory

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

9.8CVE-2020-20703Vim classic buffer overflow vulnerabilityBuffer Overflow vulnerability in VIM v.8.1.2135 allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code via the operand parameter.EPSS 1.5%9.8CVE-2022-3520Vim heap-based buffer overflow vulnerabilityHeap-based Buffer Overflow in GitHub repository vim/vim prior to 9.0.0765.EPSS 1.0%9.8CVE-2022-0318Vim heap-based buffer overflow vulnerabilityHeap-based Buffer Overflow in vim/vim prior to 8.2.EPSS 2.0%9.8CVE-2017-6349Vim integer overflow vulnerabilityAn integer overflow at a u_read_undo memory allocation site would occur for vim before patch 8.0.0377, if it does not properly validate values for tr…EPSS 2.7%9.8CVE-2017-6350Vim integer overflow vulnerabilityAn integer overflow at an unserialize_uep memory allocation site would occur for vim before patch 8.0.0378, if it does not properly validate values f…EPSS 3.2%9.8CVE-2017-5953Vim integer overflow vulnerabilityvim before patch 8.0.0322 does not properly validate values for tree length when handling a spell file, which may result in an integer overflow at a …EPSS 2.8%9.3CVE-2008-6235Vim os command injection vulnerabilityThe Netrw plugin (netrw.vim) in Vim 7.0 and 7.1 allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary commands via shell metacharacters in a filename u…EPSS 3.0%9.3CVE-2008-3074Tar.vim os command injection vulnerabilityThe shellescape function in Vim 7.0 through 7.2, including 7.2a.10, allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via the "!" (exclamation…EPSS 3.8%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-52859), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.