Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-57452

Memory Safety in Vim ≤ 9.2.0671

Published
25 June 2026
Modified
26 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0012 2th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-57452 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Vim Vim. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — 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 9.2.0671, when Vim opens a file encrypted with the VimCrypt~04! or VimCrypt~05! method (xchacha20poly1305, requires the +sodium feature) whose body is shorter than a single libsodium secretstream header, an…

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unsigned length calculation underflows and a subsequent decryption call reads far past the end of the input buffer, crashing Vim. This vulnerability is fixed in 9.2.0671.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
Why these techniques?

Buffer over-read triggers application crash, directly enabling T1499.004 via malicious file.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-52859Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-32249Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-46246Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-57454Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-57451Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-28418Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-28419Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2026-28420Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-2610Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-2426Same product: Vim Vim

Affected Assets

vim
vim
≤ 9.2.0671

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires applying the vendor patch (9.2.0671) that corrects the unsigned length underflow before any decryption of a short VimCrypt~04/05 file occurs.

prevent

Mandates validation of input length and structure on file open, which would reject a libsodium secretstream header shorter than the required size and avoid the subsequent out-of-bounds read.

detect

Requires ongoing vulnerability scanning that would identify the known unpatched Vim flaw (CWE-125/191) before an attacker-supplied short encrypted file can be opened.

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 full match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent integer underflow defects via input validation, bounds checking, and static analysis.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

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.

detects

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
detects

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

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References