CVE-2016-1248

vim before patch 8.0.0056 does not properly validate values for the 'filetype', 'syntax' and 'keymap' options, which may result in the execution of arbitrary code if a file with a specially crafted modeline is opened.

Published: 2016-11-23 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-1248 is rated High Risk (70.4/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 25.50%, 98th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +9.56% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2016-1248

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 2026-06-15 15.94% 25.50% +9.56%
2 2025-12-29 23.65% 15.94% -7.71%
3 2025-12-28 — 23.65% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-1248

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
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-2016-1248

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-1248

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2016-1248: 3 source package rows (gvim, neovim, vim); 18 state rows across 17 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-community, 3.17-main, 3.18-community, 3.18-main, 3.19-community, 3.19-main, 3.20-community, 3.20-main, 3.21-community, 3.21-main, 3.22-community, 3.22-main, edge-community, edge-main); fixed 18, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2016-1248
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-1248 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (neovim, vim), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-1248
gentoo normal CVE-2016-1248: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-29), 2 atom(s) (app-editors/gvim, app-editors/vim); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-1248
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1248
suse medium CVE-2016-1248 severity moderate: SUSE including 258 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 371 product×package rows across 50 product lines (Container caasp/v4/haproxy, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, … (50 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Fixed 140. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1248/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-1248 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (neovim, vim), 12 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): released 6, DNE 4, not-affected 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-1248

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-1248

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vim vim <= 8.0.0055 cpe:2.3:a:vim:vim:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-1248

URL Tags
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/11/22/20 Patch Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2972.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3722
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94478
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037338
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3139-1
https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-vim/vim.git/tree/debian/changelog Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/neovim/neovim/commit/4fad66fbe637818b6b3d6bc5d21923ba72795040 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/d0b5138ba4bccff8a744c99836041ef6322ed39a Patch Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/vim/vim/releases/tag/v8.0.0056 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2016/11/msg00025.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2016/msg00305.html Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-29
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