Vim up to 9.2.495 Pattern cucumber.vim stepmatch code injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Vim up to 9.2.495. Affected is the function stepmatch of the file runtime/ftplugin/cucumber.vim of the component Pattern Handler. Performing a manipulation results in code injection. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-47167. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Vim up to 9.2.495. This affects the function stepmatch of the file runtime/ftplugin/cucumber.vim of the component Pattern Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a code injection vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-94. The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0496, a code injection vulnerability exists in s:stepmatch() in the cucumber filetype plugin (runtime/ftplugin/cucumber.vim) on Vim builds with +ruby support. Step-definition patterns read from .rb files under the repository's features/*/ or stories/*/ directories are embedded into a Ruby Kernel.eval argument without sufficient escaping, allowing a crafted pattern in an attacker-controlled repository to execute arbitrary Ruby (and through it arbitrary shell commands) when the user invokes a step-jump mapping ([d, ]d). This issue has been patched in version 9.2.0496.

The advisory is shared at github.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-47167 since 05/18/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1059 for this issue.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 320685 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-47167), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 9.2.0496 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com. Applying the patch a65a52d684bc58535ad28a4ae824d22e76399934 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (320685) and EUVD (EUVD-2026-36280). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Word Processing Software

Name

• Vim

Version

• 9.2.495

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/vim/vim/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Discussion