CVE-2026-42307
Description
A flaw was found in Vim’s netrw plugin. Improper sanitization of specially crafted filenames or URLs could allow shell metacharacters to be included in temporary filenames passed to external commands. A local attacker could exploit this issue to trigger unintended shell command execution when a user opens malicious content using affected netrw functionality.
Statement
This vulnerability affects Vim’s netrw plugin URL and file handling functionality. Red Hat Product Security has assessed this issue as a Moderate severity vulnerability.
A local attacker may craft malicious filenames or URLs containing shell metacharacters that trigger unintended shell command execution when opened by a victim using affected netrw functionality in Vim. Successful exploitation requires user interaction because the victim must open attacker-controlled content.
Red Hat therefore assessed the Confidentiality and Integrity impacts as Low (C:L/I:L), with no direct Availability impact (A:N).
Mitigation
Red Hat is not aware of a practical temporary workaround that fully mitigates this issue or meets Red Hat Product Security's standards for usability, deployment, applicability, or stability.
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 Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 4.4 | N/A | 4.4 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | N/A | Low |
| Integrity Impact | Low | N/A | Low |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability,Non-Repudiation
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Read Files or Directories; Modify Files or Directories; Read Application Data; Modify Application Data; Hide Activities
Attackers could execute unauthorized operating system commands, which could then be used to disable the product, or read and modify data for which the attacker does not have permissions to access directly. Since the targeted application is directly executing the commands instead of the attacker, any malicious activities may appear to come from the application or the application's owner.
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