vim vulnerabilities

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2008-2712   CVE-2008-4101  

Jan Minar discovered that Vim did not properly sanitize inputs before invoking the execute or system functions inside Vim scripts. If a user were tricked into running Vim scripts with a specially crafted input, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user invoking the program. (CVE-2008-2712)

Ben Schmidt discovered that Vim did not properly escape characters when performing keyword or tag lookups. If a user were tricked into running specially crafted commands, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user invoking the program. (CVE-2008-4101)

27 January 2009

vim vulnerabilities

A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

  • Ubuntu 8.10
  • Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu 7.10
  • Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

Software Description

  • vim

Details

Jan Minar discovered that Vim did not properly sanitize inputs before invoking the execute or system functions inside Vim scripts. If a user were tricked into running Vim scripts with a specially crafted input, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user invoking the program. (CVE-2008-2712)

Ben Schmidt discovered that Vim did not properly escape characters when performing keyword or tag lookups. If a user were tricked into running specially crafted commands, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user invoking the program. (CVE-2008-4101)

Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 8.10
vim - 1:7.1.314-3ubuntu3.1
vim-runtime - 1:7.1.314-3ubuntu3.1
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
vim - 1:7.1-138+1ubuntu3.1
vim-runtime - 1:7.1-138+1ubuntu3.1
Ubuntu 7.10
vim - 1:7.1-056+2ubuntu2.1
vim-runtime - 1:7.1-056+2ubuntu2.1
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS
vim - 1:6.4-006+2ubuntu6.2
vim-runtime - 1:6.4-006+2ubuntu6.2

To update your system, please follow these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Upgrades.

In general, a standard system upgrade is sufficient to effect the necessary changes.

References