Heap-based buffer overflow in Vim - CVE-2026-28419

 

Heap-based buffer overflow in Vim - CVE-2026-28419

Published: March 3, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU123425
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4: 8.4 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-28419
CWE-ID: CWE-122
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due to a boundary error within the emacs_tags_parse_line() function in src/tag.c in Emacs-style tags file parsing logic. A remote attacker can trick the victim into opening a specially crafted tags file, trigger a heap-based buffer overflow and execute arbitrary code on the target system.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may result in complete compromise of vulnerable system.


Affected software

Vim
IBM Cloud Pak for Data System
Ubuntu
openEuler
Anolis OS
Fedora
vim (Ubuntu package)
vim-common
vim-X11
vim-enhanced
vim-minimal
vim-data
vim-doc
vim-filesystem
vim-debuginfo
vim-debugsource
vim

How to mitigate CVE-2026-28419

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vim - update to 9.2.0075
vim (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3.1+esm23, 2:7.4.1689-3ubuntu1.5+esm29, 2:8.0.1453-1ubuntu1.13+esm14, 2:8.1.2269-1ubuntu5.32+esm2, 2:8.2.3995-1ubuntu2.26, 2:9.1.0016-1ubuntu7.10, 2:9.1.0967-1ubuntu6.1
vim-common - update to 9.0.2092-10
vim-X11 - update to 9.0.2092-10
vim-enhanced - update to 9.0.2092-10
vim-minimal - update to 9.0.2092-10
vim-data - update to 9.0.2092-10
vim-doc - update to 9.0.2092-10
vim-filesystem - update to 9.0.2092-10
vim-debuginfo - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim-filesystem - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim-minimal - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim-enhanced - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim-debugsource - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim-common - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim-X11 - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim - update to 9.0.2092-26
vim - addressed in versions 9.2.112-1.fc43, 9.2.112-1.fc44, 9.2.112-2.fc42, 9.2.112-2.fc43, 9.2.112-2.fc44, 9.2.148-1.fc42, 9.2.148-1.fc44

External References

Related Security Bulletins