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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.3

CVE-2008-3074 json

The shellescape function in Vim 7.0 through 7.2, including 7.2a.10, allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via the "!" (e…

published 2009-02-21 17 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2008-3064

cvss
9.3
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.8%
EPSS 3.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 90%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The shellescape function in Vim 7.0 through 7.2, including 7.2a.10, allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via the "!" (exclamation point) shell metacharacter in (1) the filename of a tar archive and possibly (2) the filename of the first file in a tar archive, which is not properly handled by the VIM TAR plugin (tar.vim) v.10 through v.22, as demonstrated by the shellescape, tarplugin.v2, tarplugin, and tarplugin.updated test cases. NOTE: this issue reportedly exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2008-2712. NOTE: this issue has the same root cause as CVE-2008-3075. NOTE: due to the complexity of the associated disclosures and the incomplete information related to them, there may be inaccuracies in this CVE description and in external mappings to this identifier.

Patch / fix

  • vim Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2:7.2.010-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2008-3074

  • vim RHEL 5 2:7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z
  • vim-X11 RHEL 5 2:7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z
  • vim-common RHEL 5 2:7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z
  • vim-minimal RHEL 5 2:7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z
  • vim-enhanced RHEL 5 2:7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z

red hat advisories RHSA-2008:0580

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2008-3074 updated

plugin: improper Implementation of shellescape() (arbitrary code execution)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) vim 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-X11 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-common 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-minimal 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-enhanced 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) vim 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-X11 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-common 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-minimal 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z, vim-enhanced 7.0.109-4.el5_2.4z
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0580

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

3.84% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 90% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • rdancer.org http://www.rdancer.org/vulnerablevim.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/07/07/4 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 9.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.