CVE-2025-66476

Description

An uncontrolled search-path vulnerability in Vim for Microsoft Windows allows an attacker who can place a trojanized executable in a directory opened by the user to cause Vim to run that executable when Vim invokes external commands (for example :grep, :!, filters !, :make, or system() in Vimscript). This can result in arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running Vim. The issue only affects Vim on Windows platforms (ms-win builds) and is not triggered on Unix-like systems.

Statement

This flaw is specific to Vim on Microsoft Windows systems and arises from Windows-only search-path behavior when external commands are invoked. The vulnerable code path does not exist in Vim builds for Linux. As a result, Red Hat products are not affected by this vulnerability.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score0N/A7.8
Attack VectorLocalN/ALocal
Attack ComplexityLowN/ALow
Privileges RequiredNoneN/ANone
User InteractionNoneN/ARequired
ScopeUnchangedN/AUnchanged
ConfidentialityNoneN/AHigh
Integrity ImpactNoneN/AHigh
Availability ImpactNoneN/AHigh

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:N

cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Frequently Asked Questions

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