Vim modeline sandbox bypass arbitrary OS command execution
CVE-2026-34982 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vim affecting versions prior to 9.2.0276. The flaw is a modeline sandbox bypass that allows arbitrary OS command execution when a user opens a specially crafted file in Vim. According to the provided content, the root cause is that the complete, guitabtooltip, and printheader options are missing the P_MLE flag, which allows them to be set from a modeline when they should be restricted. In addition, the mapset() function lacks a check_secure() call, allowing it to be abused from sandboxed expressions. The complete option is specifically noted as accepting F{func} syntax for completion callbacks and lacking both P_SECURE and P_MLE, enabling arbitrary lambda expressions to be accepted from modelines. Together, these issues permit bypass of Vim's intended modeline sandbox protections and can be chained into OS command execution.
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Impact, mitigation & remediation
What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.
Impact
What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
set nomodeline to the user's .vimrc. More generally, avoid opening untrusted files in vulnerable Vim versions until the update is applied.Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
check_secure() protection in mapset().Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Affected products & vendors
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
11 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.