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Fencer Vulns
low 3.3

CVE-2026-73071 json

Vim: Use-after-free in JSON Decoding

published 2026-08-11 2 mo ago modified 2026-10-06 33 d ago also EUVD-2026-56225

cvss
3.3
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 1%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. From 9.2.0511 until 9.2.0844, json_decode_item() in src/json.c can retain a stale pointer after json_decode_string() invokes channel_fill() to refill and free the current buffer, causing the error path to read freed memory instead of reader->js_buf + reader->js_used when an invalid JSON string spans buffers. This issue is fixed in version 9.2.0844.

Patch / fix

  • vim vim 9.2.0844
  • vim Debian 14 2:9.2.0858-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73071

  • vim Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 2:8.2.3995-1ubuntu2.35
  • vim Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 2:9.1.0016-1ubuntu7.19
  • vim Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 2:9.1.2141-1ubuntu4.8

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73071

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • vim Linux Micro 6.0 9.2.0957-1.1
  • vim SLES 16.0, Linux Micro Extras 6.2, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 9.2.0957-160000.1.1
  • vim SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP6-LTSS +6 more 9.2.0957-150500.20.64.1
  • vim SLE Micro 5.4, SLE Micro 5.3 9.2.0957-150000.5.102.1
  • vim Linux Micro 6.1 9.2.0957-slfo.1.1_1.1
  • vim SLES LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5-LTSS 9.2.0957-17.76.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:23365-1SUSE-SU-2026:23393-1SUSE-SU-2026:23552-1SUSE-SU-2026:23391-1SUSE-SU-2026:3680-1SUSE-SU-2026:3679-1

  • vim openSUSE Leap 16.0 9.2.0957-160000.1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21671-1

  • vim Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23 9.2.0854-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2026-73071

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • vim Azure Linux 3.0 9.2.0957-1

azure linux advisories AZL-95976

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

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-2026-73071 updated cvss 3.3

vim: Vim: Denial of Service via Use-After-Free in JSON Decoding

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 vim, vim-X11, vim-common, vim-minimal, vim-enhanced, vim-filesystem Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 vim, vim-X11, vim-common, vim-minimal, vim-enhanced, vim-filesystem Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 vim, vim-X11, vim-common, vim-minimal, vim-enhanced, vim-filesystem Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 vim, vim-X11, vim-common, vim-minimal, vim-enhanced, vim-filesystem Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 vim Red Hat Hardened Images vim
    +2 more products
    Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

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

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
2 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.11% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 1% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 3.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Affected products

  • vim vim

Classification

Weakness

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.