CVE-2024-43790 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Vim

Vim is an open source command line text editor. When performing a search and displaying the search-count message is disabled (:set shm+=S), the search pattern is displayed at the bottom of the screen in a buffer (msgbuf). When right-left mode (:set rl) is enabled, the search pattern is reversed. This happens by allocating a new buffer. If the search pattern contains some ASCII NUL characters, the buffer allocated will be smaller than the original allocated buffer (because for allocating the reversed buffer, the strlen() function is called, which only counts until it notices an ASCII NUL byte ) and thus the original length indicator is wrong. This causes an overflow when accessing characters inside the msgbuf by the previously (now wrong) length of the msgbuf. The issue has been fixed as of Vim patch v9.1.0689.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.06%	0.31%	+0.25%
2	2025-09-30	0.01%	0.06%	+0.04%
3	2025-04-15	—	0.01%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.06%

0.31%

+0.25%

2025-09-30

0.01%

0.06%

+0.04%

2025-04-15

—

0.01%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
4.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L` 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:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. 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:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:L) Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes. Availability (A:L) Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.	1.0	3.4	[email protected]
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

4.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L 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:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L): Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L): Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.

1.0

3.4

[email protected]

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-43790

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2024-43790: 1 source package rows (vim); 12 state rows across 4 repos (3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 4, open 8.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-43790
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2024-43790 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (vim), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-43790
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-43790
`suse`	medium	CVE-2024-43790 severity moderate: SUSE including 280 source package names (1.5.0:vim-data-common-9.1.1101-150500.20.21.1, 1.5.0:vim-small-9.1.1101-150500.20.21.1, …), 855 product×package rows across 296 product lines (Container suse/hpc/warewulf4-x86_64/sle-hpc-node, Container suse/manager/5.0/x86_64/server, … (296 product lines)): Fixed 634, Known Affected 221.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-43790/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2024-43790 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (vim), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-43790

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-43790

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
vim	vim	>= 9.1.0425, < 9.1.0689	cpe:2.3:a:vim:vim::::::::
netapp	bootstrap_os	—	cpe:2.3:o:netapp:bootstrap_os:-:::::::*

References for CVE-2024-43790

URL	Tags
https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/cacb6693c10bb19f28a50eca47bc	Patch
https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-v2x2-cjcg-f9jm	Vendor Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240920-0005/	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2024-43790 | heap-buffer-overflow in do_search() in Vim < 9.1.0689

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-43790

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-43790

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-43790

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-43790

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-43790

References for CVE-2024-43790