Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 25.10 / 26.04 LTS : Vim vulnerabilities (USN-8500-1)

high Nessus Plugin ID 324991

Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 25.10 / 26.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-8500-1 advisory.

It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled path traversal in the zip.vim plugin. An attacker could possibly use this issue to overwrite arbitrary files. This issue only affected Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-35177)

It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled depth tracking when processing spell files. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2026-55693, CVE-2026-55892)

It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled filename escaping in the netrw plugin. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 25.10, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS.
(CVE-2026-55895)

It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled length calculations when opening encrypted files. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 25.10, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-57452)

Dhruv Vishesh Gupta discovered that Vim incorrectly handled quoting of archive entry names. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 26.04 LTS.
(CVE-2026-57453)

It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled bounds checking when translating words through a byte map.
An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2026-57455)

Chenyuan Mi discovered that Vim incorrectly handled docstring escaping during Python omni-completion. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-57456)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8500-1

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 324991

File Name: ubuntu_USN-8500-1.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Published: 7/3/2026

Updated: 7/3/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.9

Percentile: 96.92

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Temporal Score: 5.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-57456

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 6.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.4

Threat Score: 5.7

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk-py2, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-common, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-runtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-nox, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-tiny, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:xxd, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gnome, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-athena, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-motif, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-athena-py2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gnome-py2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gui-common, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-lesstif, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-nox-py2, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk3-py2

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release, Host/Debian/dpkg-l

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 7/2/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/2/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-35177, CVE-2026-55693, CVE-2026-55892, CVE-2026-55895, CVE-2026-57452, CVE-2026-57453, CVE-2026-57455, CVE-2026-57456

IAVA: 2026-A-0413-S

USN: 8500-1