Detections
Analytics

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS : Vim vulnerabilities (USN-8657-1)

high Nessus Plugin ID 365436

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 / 26.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-8657-1 advisory.

 It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled memory when decoding certain JSON input. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Vim to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-73071)

 Yazan Balawneh discovered that Vim incorrectly handled memory when opening certain spell files. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Vim to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-73072)

 It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled memory when processing certain files with a large number of text properties. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Vim to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-73074)

 It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled certain vimball files. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-73076)

 It was discovered that Vim incorrectly handled shell arguments during keyword lookups. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-73077)

 David Carliez discovered that Vim incorrectly handled certain directory paths when constructing netrw menus. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-73078)

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-8657-1

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 365436

File Name: ubuntu_USN-8657-1.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Published: 10/13/2026

Updated: 10/13/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.6

Percentile: 98.37

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 10

Temporal Score: 7.8

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-73078

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.8

Temporal Score: 7.9

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

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

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.6

Threat Score: 7.3

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:P

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/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:14.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-athena-py2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-athena, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-common, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gnome-py2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gnome, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk-py2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk3-py2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gtk, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-gui-common, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-lesstif, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-motif, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-nox-py2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-nox, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-runtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim-tiny, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vim, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:xxd

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

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/20/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/11/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-73071, CVE-2026-73072, CVE-2026-73074, CVE-2026-73076, CVE-2026-73077, CVE-2026-73078

IAVA: 2026-A-0846

USN: 8657-1