CVE-2026-25749VulnerabilityPublished 12 Mar 2026Updated 16 Oct 2026

Red Hat Security Advisory: vim security update

Affects Red Hat vimSource GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited : upgrade Red Hat vim to 9.8 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

Severity

Medium

Rated by Threat Radar · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 18% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 9.8

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade Red Hat vim to 9.8.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hat Product Security Red Hat	Affected >=9 <9.8 Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) s390x Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) aarch64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) x86_64	Fixed in 9.8

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released updated Vim packages that fix this vulnerability. Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 should apply the security update as described in the Red Hat advisory RHSA-2026:4442 and the referenced article https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. Applying the official patch is the recommended mitigation. No additional workarounds or mitigations are specified.

Description

Vim (Vi IMproved) is an updated and improved version of the vi editor. Security Fix(es): * vim: Vim: Arbitrary code execution via 'helpfile' option processing (CVE-2026-25749) For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Impact

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on affected systems via specially crafted 'helpfile' option processing in Vim. This could lead to unauthorized code execution within the context of the user running Vim. The vulnerability affects multiple architectures of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of the advisory.

CWE-120Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input (Classic Buffer Overflow) (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #11
The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer.
Requirements · Language Selection
Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Docker Security (opens in a new tab)
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V14.1.2 (opens in a new tab)
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables (opens in a new tab)
Overflow Buffers (opens in a new tab)
Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
MIME Conversion (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 8 Jul 2026, 15:00 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-120

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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