Vim 9.2.0075: Heap Buffer Underflow in Emacs-Style Tags Parsing
CVE-2026-28419 Published on February 27, 2026
Vim has Heap-based Buffer Underflow in Emacs tags parsing
Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0075, a heap-based buffer underflow exists in Vim's Emacs-style tags file parsing logic. When processing a malformed tags file where a delimiter appears at the start of a line, Vim attempts to read memory immediately preceding the allocated buffer. Version 9.2.0075 fixes the issue.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-28419 can be exploited with local system access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be low. considered to have a small impact on confidentiality and integrity and availability.
Weakness Types
What is a buffer underrun Vulnerability?
The software writes to a buffer using an index or pointer that references a memory location prior to the beginning of the buffer. This typically occurs when a pointer or its index is decremented to a position before the buffer, when pointer arithmetic results in a position before the beginning of the valid memory location, or when a negative index is used.
CVE-2026-28419 has been classified to as a buffer underrun vulnerability or weakness.
Out-of-bounds Read
The software reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. Typically, this can allow attackers to read sensitive information from other memory locations or cause a crash. A crash can occur when the code reads a variable amount of data and assumes that a sentinel exists to stop the read operation, such as a NUL in a string. The expected sentinel might not be located in the out-of-bounds memory, causing excessive data to be read, leading to a segmentation fault or a buffer overflow. The software may modify an index or perform pointer arithmetic that references a memory location that is outside of the boundaries of the buffer. A subsequent read operation then produces undefined or unexpected results.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-28419
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Affected Versions
vim Version < 9.2.0075 is affected by CVE-2026-28419Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.