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VimApplication

CVE-2024-41957

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.1.0647 or later.
See remediation →
56/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Vim is an open source command line text editor. Vim < v9.1.0647 has double free in src/alloc.c:616. When closing a window, the corresponding tagstack data will be cleared and freed. However a bit later, the quickfix list belonging to that window will also be cleared and if that quickfix list points to the same tagstack data, Vim will try to free it again, resulting in a double-free/use-after-free access exception. Impact is low since the user must intentionally execute vim with several non-default flags, but it may cause a crash of Vim. The issue has been fixed as of Vim patch v9.1.0647

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-415

The same block of memory is freed twice, corrupting the allocator's bookkeeping in ways an attacker can shape toward code execution. It usually stems from tangled ownership of a pointer. The fix is clear, single ownership of each allocation and clearing pointers once they are freed.

General guidance for the double free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
VimApplication
Affected:< 9.1.0647

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 9.1.0647 or later
Fixed in 9.1.0647
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Vim v9.1.0647 or later

  1. Check your current Vim version by running: vim --version
  2. Download Vim v9.1.0647 or later from the official GitHub releases: https://github.com/vim/vim/releases
  3. Install the new version using your system's package manager or by compiling from source
  4. Verify the vulnerability is fixed by running: vim --version and confirming the version is v9.1.0647 or higher
  5. Test your workflows that involve tagstack and quickfix list functionality to ensure proper operation
Caveat Minor patch release; should not introduce breaking changes but test quickfix and tagstack workflows

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-41957 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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