Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:LCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-35177 is a medium-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Vim Vim. Its CVSS base score is 4.1 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 3th 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-35177 is a path traversal vulnerability in the zip.vim plugin of Vim, an open source command-line text editor. Versions of Vim prior to 9.2.0280 are affected, where the flaw allows attackers to bypass a previous mitigation for CVE-2025-53906. By opening specially crafted ZIP archives in Vim, arbitrary files on the system can be overwritten. The vulnerability is rated with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.1 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L) and is associated with CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory).
A local attacker with no privileges can exploit this vulnerability by tricking a user into opening a malicious ZIP archive using Vim. The attack requires high complexity and user interaction, but successful exploitation enables overwriting of arbitrary files, potentially leading to low-impact integrity and availability disruptions with changed scope.
The Vim project has addressed this issue in version 9.2.0280. Additional details are available in the GitHub security advisory at https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-jc86-w7vm-8p24.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-19426
Vulnerability Data
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0280, a path traversal bypass in Vim's zip.vim plugin allows overwriting of arbitrary files when opening specially crafted zip archives, circumventing the previous fix for CVE-2025-53906. This vulnerability is…
more
fixed in 9.2.0280.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
—
—
—
V5.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.
Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.
Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.
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.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
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.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.