CVE-2026-73076 — Vim: Arbitrary Command Execution via Malicious `.VimballRecord` Entry Replay in `vimball.vim`

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0847, runtime/autoload/vimball.vim allows a crafted vimball member named .VimballRecord to overwrite the installation record with attacker-chosen commands. When vimball#RmVimball() later processes the matching record entry, the stored Ex commands, including operating-system commands invoked through :!, execute with the privileges of the user running Vim. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0847.

Published Aug 11, 2026Updated Aug 11, 2026Sources: cvelistV5, GitHub_M

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Unreported

no source claims exploitation

EPSS

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Affects

vim

CVSS base

8.4

HIGH

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Affected scope

The catalog records vendors and products as separate lists, not pairs, so which product belongs to which vendor is not something this page can say.

Vendors (1)

vim

Products (1)

vim

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
8.4	CVSS 4.0	HIGH	—	—	cvelistV5

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-94
CWE-829

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

T1027.006Obfuscated Files or Information: HTML Smuggling
T1027.009Obfuscated Files or Information: Embedded Payloads
T1564.009Hide Artifacts: Resource Forking

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

Search application, proxy, and WAF logs for requests touching /autoload/vimball.vim.

References

2 on the record

github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-r22p-fhw4-84p2
x_refsource_CONFIRM
github.com/vim/vim/commit/581a2f3ac9c6f96a26324f6b2c8c11415fd0d452
x_refsource_MISC

Elsewhere on this site

vimevery CVE for this vendor
CWE-94other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.