CVE-2026-73072: Vim: Heap Buffer Overflow when Loading a Spell File

Severity: high (CVSS 7.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-11 · updated 2026-10-06
Weakness: CWE-122

Description

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to 9.2.0846, set_sofo() in src/spellfile.c reuses sl_sal_first[] without resetting values left by set_sal_first(), so a crafted spell file containing an SN_SAL section before an SN_SOFO section causes under-counted mapping lists and attacker-influenced writes beyond a heap allocation. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0846.

Affected products

vim/vim: before 9.2.0846 — fixed in 9.2.0846

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: vim/vim 9.2.0846. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/05c41c922309c7a11b6ec2f124be66551c90d66a
https://github.com/vim/vim/releases/tag/v9.2.0846
https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-9jqx-hgpr-6v64

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