CVE-2007-2953

Format string vulnerability in the helptags_one function in src/ex_cmds.c in Vim 6.4 and earlier, and 7.x up to 7.1, allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via format string specifiers in a help-tags tag in a help file, related to the helptags command.

Published: 2007-07-31 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2007-2953 is rated Moderate Risk (62.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 14.71%, 95th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +2.37% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2007-2953

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-11 12.34% 14.71% +2.37%
2 2026-03-19 11.92% 12.34% +0.42%
3 2025-10-15 11.92%

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2007-2953

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2007-2953

OS Trackers for CVE-2007-2953

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2007-2953 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (vim), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2007-2953
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2007-2953
suse medium CVE-2007-2953 severity moderate: SUSE including 23 source package names (gvim-7.2-8.15.2, gvim-7.2-8.8, …), 31 product×package rows across 8 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2, … (8 product lines)): Fixed 31. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2007-2953/
ubuntu medium CVE-2007-2953 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (vim), 4 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): released 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2007-2953

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2007-2953

  • Red Hat (2007-08-06T00:00:00)

    Red Hat is aware of this issue and is tracking it via the following bug: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=248542 The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this issue as having low security impact, a future update may address this flaw. More information regarding issue severity can be found here: http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2007-2953

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vim_development_group vim <= 6.4 cpe:2.3:a:vim_development_group:vim:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vim_development_group vim 7.0 cpe:2.3:a:vim_development_group:vim:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vim_development_group vim 7.1 cpe:2.3:a:vim_development_group:vim:7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vim_development_group vim 7.1.38 cpe:2.3:a:vim_development_group:vim:7.1.38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2007-2953

URL Tags
ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/patches/7.1/7.1.039 Patch
http://secunia.com/advisories/25941 Patch Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/26285
http://secunia.com/advisories/26522
http://secunia.com/advisories/26594
http://secunia.com/advisories/26653
http://secunia.com/advisories/26674
http://secunia.com/advisories/26822
http://secunia.com/advisories/32858
http://secunia.com/advisories/33410
http://secunia.com/secunia_research/2007-66/advisory/ Patch Vendor Advisory
http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2009-001.htm
http://www.attrition.org/pipermail/vim/2007-August/001770.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2007/dsa-1364
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2007:168
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:236
http://www.novell.com/linux/security/advisories/2007_18_sr.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0580.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0617.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/475076/100/100/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/502322/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/25095 Patch
http://www.trustix.org/errata/2007/0026/
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-505-1
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2009-0004.html
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2007/2687
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0033
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0904
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/35655
https://issues.rpath.com/browse/RPL-1595
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A11549
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6463
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