Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-59857

Memory Safety in Vim ≤ 9.2.0725

Published
09 July 2026
Modified
10 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 5.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/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 0.0011 1th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-59857 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Vim Vim. Its CVSS base score is 5.6 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 1th 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-16 (Memory Protection) 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 9.2.0725, the single-byte branch of spell_soundfold_sal() in src/spell.c translates a word through a spell file's SAL sound-folding rules into a caller-owned result buffer, but its result writes are guarded…

more

with reslen < MAXWLEN, allowing reslen to reach MAXWLEN before res[reslen] = NUL writes one byte past the end of the MAXWLEN-element stack buffer. A boundary-length word passed to soundfold(), or reached via sound-based spell suggestion while a SAL-based spell language is active under a non-multibyte 8-bit encoding, can corrupt the eval_soundfold() stack frame and crash the editor. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0725.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

Insufficient information to map techniques.
Confidence: LOW · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-0054Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2024-45306Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2024-22667Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-4735Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2025-24014Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-4751Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-4738Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2023-5344Same product: Vim Vim
CVE-2024-30307Shared CWE-787
CVE-2023-6228Shared CWE-787

Affected Assets

vim
vim
≤ 9.2.0725

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

SI-16 requires memory-protection mechanisms that prevent out-of-bounds writes such as the reslen==MAXWLEN overflow in spell_soundfold_sal().

prevent

SI-2 mandates timely flaw remediation; applying the 9.2.0725 patch eliminates the CWE-787 buffer overflow in Vim’s SAL sound-folding path.

detect

SI-7 enables integrity verification of executable code and can detect post-exploit corruption of Vim’s stack frame caused by the overflow.

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-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.

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 can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References