CVE-2024-45306: vim Heap Overflow — Fix

Description

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Patch v9.1.0038 optimized how the cursor position is calculated and removed a loop, that verified that the cursor position always points inside a line and does not become invalid by pointing beyond the end of a line. Back then we assumed this loop is unnecessary. However, this change made it possible that the cursor position stays invalid and points beyond the end of a line, which would eventually cause a heap-buffer-overflow when trying to access the line pointer at the specified cursor position. It's not quite clear yet, what can lead to this situation that the cursor points to an invalid position. That's why patch v9.1.0707 does not include a test case. The only observed impact has been a program crash. This issue has been addressed in with the patch v9.1.0707. All users are advised to upgrade.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

4.5

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-122 CWE-122

CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
vim	vim	9.1.0038 — 9.1.0707

References

Advisories & Patches

https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/396fd1ec2956307755392a1

Other References

https://github.com/vim/vim/releases/tag/v9.1.0038 https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-wxf9-c5gx-qrwr https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20241004-0007/

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-45306? +

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Patch v9.1.0038 optimized how the cursor position is calculated and removed a loop, that verified that the cursor position always points inside a line and does not become invalid by pointing beyond the end of a line. Back then we assumed this loop is unnecessary. However, this change made it possible that the cursor position stays invalid and points beyond the end of a line, which would eventually cause a heap-buffer-overflow when trying to access the line pointer at the specified cursor position. It's not quite clear yet, what can lead to this situation that the cursor points to an invalid position. That's why patch v9.1.0707 does not include a test case. The only observed impact has been a program crash. This issue has been addressed in with the patch v9.1.0707. All users are advised to upgrade. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2024-45306? +

CVE-2024-45306 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 4.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

What products are affected by CVE-2024-45306? +

CVE-2024-45306 affects products from vim, specifically: vim. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2024-45306? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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