CVE-2026-57451

Description

A flaw in Vim allows an attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via an application crash. If a user opens a maliciously crafted undo file, an out-of-bounds read is triggered in the get_text_props() function due to missing length validation on property counts.

Statement

Exploitation requires specific user interaction; the vulnerability only triggers when a local user is tricked into opening a specially crafted undo file in Vim. This limits the attack surface to scenarios where untrusted files are intentionally processed

Mitigation

Users are advised to avoid opening or processing undo files from untrusted or unknown sources. If your team compiles Vim from source, ensure standard compiler security flags (like -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 or 3) are enabled. This provides a safety net by detecting out-of-bounds reads and safely terminating the application before exploitation can occur.

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 Score5.56.15.3
Attack VectorLocalLocalLocal
Attack ComplexityLowLowHigh
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneNone
User InteractionRequiredRequiredRequired
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedUnchanged
ConfidentialityNoneLowLow
Integrity ImpactNoneNoneNone
Availability ImpactHighHighHigh

Vector

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

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Memory

An attacker could get secret values such as cryptographic keys, PII, memory addresses, or other information that could be used in additional attacks.

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism

Out-of-bounds memory could contain memory addresses or other information that can be used to bypass ASLR and other protection mechanisms in order to improve the reliability of exploiting a separate weakness for code execution.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

An attacker could cause a segmentation fault or crash by causing memory to be read outside of the bounds of the buffer. This is especially likely when the code reads a variable amount of data and assumes that a sentinel exists to stop the read operation, such as a NUL in a string.

Other

Technical Impact: Varies by Context

The read operation could produce other undefined or unexpected results.

Frequently Asked Questions

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