Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-9390

Memory Safety in Vim 9.1.1459 – 9.1.1616

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
24 August 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 1.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/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:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0027 19th percentile
Risk Priority 15 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-9390 is a low-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Vim Vim. Its CVSS base score is 1.9 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 19th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-6 (Least Privilege) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A security flaw has been discovered in vim up to 9.1.1615. Affected by this vulnerability is the function main of the file src/xxd/xxd.c of the component xxd. The manipulation results in buffer overflow. The attack requires a local approach. The…

more

exploit has been released to the public and may be exploited. Upgrading to version 9.1.1616 addresses this issue. The patch is identified as eeef7c77436a78cd27047b0f5fa6925d56de3cb0. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
Why these techniques?

Local buffer overflow in CLI utility enables local code execution usable for privilege escalation.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-9389Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2025-1215Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2025-1587Shared CWE-119, CWE-120
CVE-2026-1109Shared CWE-119, CWE-120
CVE-2026-1110Shared CWE-119, CWE-120
CVE-2025-3763Shared CWE-119, CWE-120
CVE-2026-6563Shared CWE-119, CWE-120
CVE-2025-1372Shared CWE-119, CWE-120
CVE-2025-8736Shared CWE-119, CWE-120
CVE-2026-1108Shared CWE-119, CWE-120

Affected Assets

vim
vim
9.1.1459 — 9.1.1616

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V17.3.2
  • V5.2.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires timely application of patches such as the eeef7c77436a78cd27047b0f5fa6925d56de3cb0 fix that eliminates the buffer overflow in xxd.c.

prevent

Enforces least-privilege execution so that a local attacker exploiting the xxd main() overflow cannot obtain elevated rights or broader system access.

prevent

Provides memory-protection mechanisms that can block or contain classic buffer-overflow exploitation of the unchecked input handling in xxd.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (bounds checking, safe APIs, reviews) directly prevent this class of flaw.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and code analysis directly surface buffer-boundary flaws.

ID.RA-08 partial match
prevents

Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary defects.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.

detects

Security testing in development catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates memory-safety practices that directly prevent buffer-boundary violations.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safe design patterns that mitigate buffer overflows.

References