Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28419

Memory Safety in Vim ≤ 9.2.0075

Memory Safety
Published
27 February 2026
Modified
04 March 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0017 6th percentile
Risk Priority 40 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-28419 is a medium-severity Buffer Underflow (CWE-124) vulnerability in Vim Vim. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0075, a heap-based buffer underflow exists in Vim's Emacs-style tags file parsing logic. When processing a malformed tags file where a delimiter appears at the start of a…

more

line, Vim attempts to read memory immediately preceding the allocated buffer. Version 9.2.0075 fixes the issue.

CWE(s)
CWE-124CWE-125

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-52859Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-57451Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-57454Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-28418Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-28420Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-57452Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2024-45306Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-57455Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-55693Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-55892Same product: Vim Vim

Affected Assets

vim
vim
≤ 9.2.0075

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)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and analysis can discover buffer underwrite flaws before deployment but does not stop their introduction.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation can enforce bounds on indices or pointers before buffer writes, structurally stopping underwrite conditions.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection mechanisms limit the blast radius of an out-of-bounds write even if the coding flaw exists.

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 directly prevent introduction of buffer underwrite flaws via coding standards, reviews, and testing.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover buffer underwrite issues but do not prevent their creation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching removes instances of the weakness after discovery but does not address root-cause prevention in code.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches buffer-underflow defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent buffer underflow.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and pointer-safety rules.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles require safe memory-handling patterns.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds checks.

References