USN-8101-1: Vim vulnerabilities

Publication date

16 March 2026

Overview

Several security issues were fixed in Vim.


Packages

  • vim - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor

Details

Rahul Hoysala discovered that Vim did not correctly handle certain tag
resolutions. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial
of service. (CVE-2026-25749)

It was discovered that Vim did not correctly handle processing certain
specialKey commands. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a
denial of service or execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-26269)

Kim Dong Han discovered that Vim did not correctly handle opening certain
URLs. If a user or system were tricked into opening a specially crafted
file, an attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code.
(CVE-2026-28417)

Kim Dong Han discovered that Vim did not correctly handle parsing
Emacs-style tag files. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause
a denial of service. (

Rahul Hoysala discovered that Vim did not correctly handle certain tag
resolutions. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial
of service. (CVE-2026-25749)

It was discovered that Vim did not correctly handle processing certain
specialKey commands. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a
denial of service or execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-26269)

Kim Dong Han discovered that Vim did not correctly handle opening certain
URLs. If a user or system were tricked into opening a specially crafted
file, an attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code.
(CVE-2026-28417)

Kim Dong Han discovered that Vim did not correctly handle parsing
Emacs-style tag files. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause
a denial of service. (CVE-2026-28418, CVE-2026-28419)

Kim Dong Han discovered that Vim did not correctly handle processing
maximum combining characters from Unicode supplementary planes. An attacker
could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service or execute
arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS,
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Ubuntu 25.10.
(CVE-2026-28420)

Kim Dong Han discovered that Vim did not correctly handle swap file
recovery. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of
service or execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-28421)

Kim Dong Han discovered that Vim did not correctly handle rendering
status lines. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial
of service or execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-28422)


Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
25.10 questing vim –  2:9.1.0967-1ubuntu6.1
24.04 LTS noble vim –  2:9.1.0016-1ubuntu7.10
22.04 LTS jammy vim –  2:8.2.3995-1ubuntu2.26
20.04 LTS focal vim –  2:8.1.2269-1ubuntu5.32+esm2  
18.04 LTS bionic vim –  2:8.0.1453-1ubuntu1.13+esm14  
16.04 LTS xenial vim –  2:7.4.1689-3ubuntu1.5+esm29  
14.04 LTS trusty vim –  2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3.1+esm23  

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.


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