CVE-2026-73077 — Vim: Arbitrary Code Execution via Shell Keyword Lookup

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0839, the runtime/ftplugin/sh.vim, runtime/ftplugin/zsh.vim, and runtime/ftplugin/ps1.vim filetype plugins pass attacker-controlled Visual-mode selections from K through keywordprg commands without safely separating shell arguments. fnameescape() and PATH_ESC_CHARS do not neutralize shell metacharacters before ShKeywordPrg, ZshKeywordPrg, or GetHelp invokes bash, zsh, or PowerShell, allowing arbitrary operating-system commands to execute with the privileges of the user running Vim. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0839.

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-78

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 /ftplugin/sh.vim, /ftplugin/zsh.vim, /ftplugin/ps1.vim.

References

2 on the record

github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-r5v6-q6j8-8qw2
x_refsource_CONFIRM
github.com/vim/vim/commit/c5a82fe013e73c98004ad7cd4f906b1ad1ed610e
x_refsource_MISC

Elsewhere on this site

vimevery CVE for this vendor
CWE-78other 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.