CVE-2019-12735

Exp

getchar.c in Vim before 8.1.1365 and Neovim before 0.3.6 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands via the :source! command in a modeline, as demonstrated by execute in Vim, and assert_fails or nvim_input in Neovim.

Published: 2019-06-05 Last update: 2025-11-11 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-12735 is rated High Exploit Risk (84/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 54.08%, 98th percentile). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2019-12735

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
46973 exploit_db edb 2019-06-04 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-12735

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 2026-06-02 53.79% 54.08% +0.28%
2 2026-05-28 64.61% 53.79% -10.82%
3 2026-03-28 — 64.61% —

Full EPSS history (32 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-12735

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.6 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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 6.0 [email protected]
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-12735

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-12735

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2019-12735: 3 source package rows (gvim, neovim, vim); 34 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 19, open 15. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-12735
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-12735 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-2019-12735
gentoo normal CVE-2019-12735: 1 GLSA(s) (202003-04), 2 atom(s) (app-editors/gvim, app-editors/vim); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2019-12735
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-12735
suse medium CVE-2019-12735 severity moderate: SUSE including 348 source package names (0.38.1:vim-8.0.1568-5.3.1, 0.38.1:vim-data-common-8.0.1568-5.3.1, …), 679 product×package rows across 219 product lines (Container bci/dotnet-aspnet, Container bci/dotnet-runtime, … (219 product lines)): Fixed 522, Known Affected 157. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-12735/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-12735 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (neovim, vim), 28 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 17, not-affected 9, DNE 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-12735

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-12735

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vim vim < 8.1.1365 cpe:2.3:a:vim:vim:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
neovim neovim < 0.3.6 cpe:2.3:a:neovim:neovim:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-12735

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-06/msg00031.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-06/msg00036.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-06/msg00037.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-07/msg00034.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-07/msg00050.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00075.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/108724
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1619
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1774
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1793
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1947
https://bugs.debian.org/930020 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.debian.org/930024 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/neovim/neovim/pull/10082 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/numirias/security/blob/master/doc/2019-06-04_ace-vim-neovim.md Exploit Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/53575521406739cf20bbe4e384d88e7dca11f040 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/08/msg00003.html
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/2BMDSHTF754TITC6AQJPCS5IRIDMMIM7/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/TRIRBC2YRGKPAWVRMZS4SZTGGCVRVZPR/
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/39
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jun/33
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-04
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K93144355
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K93144355?utm_source=f5support&amp;utm_medium=RSS
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4016-1/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4016-2/
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4467
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4487
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46973
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2BMDSHTF754TITC6AQJPCS5IRIDMMIM7/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TRIRBC2YRGKPAWVRMZS4SZTGGCVRVZPR/
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K93144355?utm_source=f5support&amp%3Butm_medium=RSS
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