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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.3

CVE-2008-4101 json

Vim 3.0 through 7.x before 7.2.010 does not properly escape characters, which allows user-assisted attackers to (1) execute arbitrary shell…

published 2008-09-18 18 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2008-4085

cvss
9.3
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
9.2%
EPSS 9.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 95%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

Vim 3.0 through 7.x before 7.2.010 does not properly escape characters, which allows user-assisted attackers to (1) execute arbitrary shell commands by entering a K keystroke on a line that contains a ";" (semicolon) followed by a command, or execute arbitrary Ex commands by entering an argument after a (2) "Ctrl-]" (control close-square-bracket) or (3) "g]" (g close-square-bracket) keystroke sequence, a different issue than CVE-2008-2712.

Patch / fix

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

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2008-4101

  • vim RHEL 3 1:6.3.046-0.30E.11
  • vim RHEL 4 1:6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z
  • vim-X11 RHEL 3 1:6.3.046-0.30E.11
  • vim-X11 RHEL 4 1:6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z
  • vim-common RHEL 3 1:6.3.046-0.30E.11
  • vim-common RHEL 4 1:6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z
  • vim-minimal RHEL 3 1:6.3.046-0.30E.11
  • vim-minimal RHEL 4 1:6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z

red hat advisories RHSA-2008:0617RHSA-2008:0618RHSA-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-2008-4101 updated

vim: arbitrary code execution in commands: K, Control-], g]

  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 vim 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-X11 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-common 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-minimal 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-0.30E.11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0617
  • 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
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0580
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (Advanced Server) version 2.1 vim 6.0-7.25, vim-X11 6.0-7.25, vim-common 6.0-7.25, vim-minimal 6.0-7.25, vim-enhanced 6.0-7.25
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0618
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 vim 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-X11 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-common 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-minimal 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-0.30E.11 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 vim 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-X11 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-common 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-minimal 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0617
  • 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 Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 vim 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-X11 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-common 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-minimal 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0617
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 2.1 vim 6.0-7.25, vim-X11 6.0-7.25, vim-common 6.0-7.25, vim-minimal 6.0-7.25, vim-enhanced 6.0-7.25
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0618
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 vim 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-X11 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-common 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-minimal 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-0.30E.11 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 vim 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-X11 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-common 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-minimal 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0617
show 3 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 2.1 vim 6.0-7.25, vim-X11 6.0-7.25, vim-common 6.0-7.25, vim-minimal 6.0-7.25, vim-enhanced 6.0-7.25
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0618
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 vim 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-X11 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-common 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-minimal 6.3.046-0.30E.11, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-0.30E.11 Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 vim 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-X11 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-common 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-minimal 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z, vim-enhanced 6.3.046-1.el4_7.5z
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0617
  • Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1 vim 6.0-7.25, vim-X11 6.0-7.25, vim-common 6.0-7.25, vim-minimal 6.0-7.25, vim-enhanced 6.0-7.25
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0618

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

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (EDB-32289)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

9.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 95% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-32289 Vim 7.1.314 - Insufficient Shell Escaping Multiple Command Execution Vulnerabilities remote, 2008-08-19
  • ftp.vim.org http://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/patches/7.2/7.2.010 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • groups.google.com http://groups.google.com/group/vim_dev/browse_thread/thread/1434d0812b5c817e/6ad2d5b50a96668e 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-20 Improper Input Validation

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.