Description
Vim is an open source command line text editor. When performing a search and displaying the search-count message is disabled (:set shm+=S), the search pattern is displayed at the bottom of the screen in a buffer (msgbuf). When right-left mode (:set rl) is enabled, the search pattern is reversed. This happens by allocating a new buffer. If the search pattern contains some ASCII NUL characters, the buffer allocated will be smaller than the original allocated buffer (because for allocating the reversed buffer, the strlen() function is called, which only counts until it notices an ASCII NUL byte ) and thus the original length indicator is wrong. This causes an overflow when accessing characters inside the msgbuf by the previously (now wrong) length of the msgbuf. The issue has been fixed as of Vim patch v9.1.0689.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| vim | vim | < v9.1.0689 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | vim | 2:9.1.0698-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | vim | 2:9.1.0698-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | vim | No fix yet | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP6 | vim | 9.1.1101-150500.20.21.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0723-1 |
| SLES 12 SP5 | vim | 9.1.1101-17.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0722-1 |
Show 6 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLE Micro 6.0 | vim | 9.1.1101-1.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:20128-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.5 | vim | 9.1.1101-150500.20.21.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0723-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.4 | vim | 9.1.1101-150000.5.69.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0724-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.3 | vim | 9.1.1101-150000.5.69.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0724-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.2 | vim | 9.1.1101-150000.5.69.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0724-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.1 | vim | 9.1.1101-150000.5.69.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0724-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | vim | 9.1.1101-150500.20.21.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:0723-1 |
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.24 | vim | 9.1.0707-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.23 | vim | 9.1.0707-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.22 | vim | 9.1.0707-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.21 | vim | 9.1.0707-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.20 | vim | 9.1.0707-r0 | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | vim | 9.1.0689-r0 | — |
Advisories 6
- WID-SEC-2025-1439 Dell Secure Connect Gateway: Mehrere Schwachstellen ermöglichen nicht spezifizierten Angriff BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Oct 11, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:20128-1 Security update for vim SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
- WID-SEC-2024-1907 vim: Schwachstelle ermöglicht Denial of Service BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Feb 15, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:0722-1 Security update for vim SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:0724-1 Security update for vim SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:0723-1 Security update for vim SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026