Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-51400

Vim ≤ 9.2.0389

Published
04 August 2026
Modified
04 September 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 8.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0012 2th percentile
Risk Priority 59 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-2026-51400 is a high-severity Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (CWE-401) vulnerability in Vim Vim. Its CVSS base score is 8.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 2th 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-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue in Vim Project v9.2.0389 and earlier allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code via the vms_fixfilename() function within file vim/src/os_vms.c

CWE(s)
CWE-401

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
attack.mitre.org →
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-0512Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-3896Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-1355Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-32249Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2025-55158Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2024-41957Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2024-41965Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-33412Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-2426Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-34714Same product: Vim Vim

Affected Assets

vim
vim
≤ 9.2.0389

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.

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 partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly enforce proper memory allocation/deallocation via coding standards, reviews, and tooling.

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.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates memory-management practices that reduce missing-release defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify explicit memory-release rules, partially mitigating the weakness.

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

Secure system architecture and engineering principles include resource-management guidelines that address memory leaks.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly require proper allocation/deallocation, covering most of this weakness.

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

Security testing in development can detect unreleased memory, providing partial coverage of the weakness.

A.8.6 Capacity management partial match
finds

Capacity management may detect memory exhaustion symptoms but does not prevent the coding flaw.

References