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
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 vimnot affected: vulnerable code not present
+2 more productsfewer
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
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
-
- CWE-416 Use After Free
References
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-73071
- NVD CVE-2026-73071
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.