vifm up to 0.14.3 vifminfo.json heap-based overflow

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
3.8$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in vifm up to 0.14.3. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file vifminfo.json. Such manipulation leads to heap-based overflow. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-8997. Local access is required to approach this attack. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in vifm up to 0.14.3. It has been rated as problematic. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file vifminfo.json. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a heap-based overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-122. A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc(). Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

vifm is vulnerable to a heap buffer overflow during the history merge process when saving the state file (vifminfo.json). This flaw occurs because the application lacks a runtime check on the length of history entries in release builds, potentially allowing a crafted long path or command in the history to cause memory corruption or application crashes. Releases from 0.12.1 to 0.14.3 (including) are considered vulnerable. This issue was fixed in commit 23063c7

The weakness was disclosed by Michał Majchrowicz. The advisory is shared for download at cert.pl. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-8997 since 05/19/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

By approaching the search of inurl:vifminfo.json it is possible to find vulnerable targets with Google Hacking. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 316555 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-8997), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 0.12.1 or 0.14.3 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (316555) and EUVD (EUVD-2026-31439). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Name

Version

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA CVSS-B Score: 🔒
CNA CVSS-BT Score: 🔒
CNA Vector: 🔒

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 3.8

VulDB Base Score: 4.0
VulDB Temp Score: 3.8
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Heap-based overflow
CWE: CWE-122 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Google Hack: 🔒

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Nessus ID: 316555
Nessus Name: Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-8997

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: vifm 0.12.1/0.14.3

Timelineinfo

05/19/2026 CVE reserved
05/22/2026 +3 days Advisory disclosed
05/22/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
05/26/2026 +4 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: cert.pl
Researcher: Michał Majchrowicz
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-8997 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-8997
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-365192
EUVD: 🔒

Entryinfo

Created: 05/22/2026 15:56
Updated: 05/26/2026 16:18
Changes: 05/22/2026 15:56 (67), 05/22/2026 16:23 (1), 05/26/2026 16:18 (2)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Do you need the next level of professionalism?

Upgrade your account now!