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Fencer Intel
medium 4.1

CVE-2025-53905 json

Vim has path traversial issue with tar.vim and special crafted tar files

published last yr. modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2025-21555

cvss
4.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 27%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.1.1552, a path traversal issue in Vim’s tar.vim plugin can allow overwriting of arbitrary files when opening specially crafted tar archives. Impact is low because this exploit requires direct user interaction. However, successfully exploitation can lead to overwriting sensitive files or placing executable code in privileged locations, depending on the permissions of the process editing the archive. The victim must edit such a file using Vim which will reveal the filename and the file content, a careful user may suspect some strange things going on. Successful exploitation could results in the ability to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system. Version 9.1.1552 contains a patch for the vulnerability.

Patch / fix

  • vim vim 9.1.1552
  • vim Debian 13 2:9.1.1230-2+deb13u1
  • vim Debian 14 2:9.1.1829-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-53905

  • vim Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 2:9.1.0016-1ubuntu7.9

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2025-53905

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • vim RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • xxd RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-X11 RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-data RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-common RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-minimal RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-enhanced RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-filesystem RHEL 10.1 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1

red hat advisories RHSA-2025:21015RHSA-2025:20945RHSA-2025:17913RHSA-2025:17742RHSA-2025:17715RHSA-2025:17644

  • vim Linux Micro 6.1 9.1.1629-slfo.1.1_1.1
  • vim SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP7, SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP6, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 +3 more 9.1.1629-150500.20.33.1
  • vim SLE Micro 5.4, SLE Micro 5.3, SLE Micro 5.2 +1 more 9.1.1629-150000.5.78.1
  • vim Linux Micro 6.0 9.1.1629-1.1
  • vim SLES LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 9.1.1629-17.51.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:20857-1SUSE-SU-2025:03300-1SUSE-SU-2025:03299-1SUSE-SU-2025:03240-1SUSE-SU-2025:20696-1

  • vim-X11 AlmaLinux 9 2:8.2.2637-23.el9_7
  • vim-common AlmaLinux 9 2:8.2.2637-23.el9_7
  • vim-minimal AlmaLinux 9 2:8.2.2637-23.el9_7
  • vim-enhanced AlmaLinux 9 2:8.2.2637-23.el9_7
  • vim-filesystem AlmaLinux 9 2:8.2.2637-23.el9_7
  • xxd AlmaLinux 10 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-X11 AlmaLinux 10 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1
  • vim-data AlmaLinux 10 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1

almalinux advisories ALSA-2025:20945ALSA-2025:21015ALSA-2025:17913ALSA-2025:17742ALSA-2025:17715

  • vim Rocky Linux 10 2:9.1.083-6.el10_1.1
  • vim Rocky Linux 9 2:8.2.2637-23.el9_7
  • vim Rocky Linux 10 2:9.1.083-5.el10_0.1
  • vim Rocky Linux 9 2:8.2.2637-22.el9_6.1
  • vim Rocky Linux 8 2:8.0.1763-21.el8_10

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2025:21015RLSA-2025:20945RLSA-2025:17913RLSA-2025:17742RLSA-2025:17715

  • vim CBL-Mariner 2.0, Azure Linux 3.0 9.1.1552-1

azure linux advisories AZL-65330AZL-65513

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Is CVE-2025-53905 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2025-53905 updated cvss 4.1

vim: Vim path traversial

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 vim, vim-X11, vim-common, vim-minimal, vim-enhanced, vim-filesystem Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 vim, vim-X11, vim-common, vim-minimal, vim-enhanced, vim-filesystem
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 rhaiis 1772160593, rhaiis 1772160625, rhaiis 3.2.2-1764871796, rhaiis 3.2.2-1765379049, rhaiis 3.2.2-1765379088
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:23080
  • Red Hat Discovery 2 discovery 2.3.0-1760554384, discovery 2.4.0-1763656152
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:21994
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) vim-X11 8.0.1763-21.el8_10, vim-common 8.0.1763-21.el8_10, vim-enhanced 8.0.1763-21.el8_10, vim-filesystem 8.0.1763-21.el8_10
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17715
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) vim-X11 8.2.2637-23.el9_7, vim-X11 8.2.2637-22.el9_6.1, vim-common 8.2.2637-23.el9_7, vim-common 8.2.2637-22.el9_6.1, vim-enhanced 8.2.2637-23.el9_7, vim-enhanced 8.2.2637-22.el9_6.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17742
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) xxd 9.1.083-6.el10_1, xxd 9.1.083-5.el10_0.1, vim-X11 9.1.083-6.el10_1, vim-X11 9.1.083-5.el10_0.1, vim-common 9.1.083-6.el10_1, vim-common 9.1.083-5.el10_0.1, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17913
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.4) vim-X11 8.2.2637-20.el9_4.1, vim-common 8.2.2637-20.el9_4.1, vim-enhanced 8.2.2637-20.el9_4.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17644
show 6 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) vim 8.0.1763-21.el8_10, vim-minimal 8.0.1763-21.el8_10
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17715
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) vim 8.2.2637-23.el9_7, vim 8.2.2637-22.el9_6.1, vim-minimal 8.2.2637-23.el9_7, vim-minimal 8.2.2637-22.el9_6.1, vim-filesystem 8.2.2637-23.el9_7, vim-filesystem 8.2.2637-22.el9_6.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17742
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) vim 9.1.083-6.el10_1, vim 9.1.083-5.el10_0.1, vim-data 9.1.083-6.el10_1, vim-data 9.1.083-5.el10_0.1, vim-minimal 9.1.083-6.el10_1, vim-minimal 9.1.083-5.el10_0.1, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17913
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.4) vim 8.2.2637-20.el9_4.1, vim-minimal 8.2.2637-20.el9_4.1, vim-filesystem 8.2.2637-20.el9_4.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:17644
  • Red Hat Insights proxy 1.5 insights-proxy 1.5.8-1762789260, insights-proxy 1.5.9-1765201856
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:22868
  • Red Hat Discovery 2 discovery 2.3.0-1760553895, discovery 2.4.0-1763596485
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
last yr.

Exploit prediction

0.34% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 27% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-74v4-f3x9-ppvr referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 4.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L

Affected products

  • vim vim

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.