Editor crash via overlong Emacs tags line
Published Feb 27, 2026 · Updated Feb 27, 2026
Out-of-bounds read in Vim before 9.2.0074 allows attackers to crash the editor through a crafted Emacs-style tags file. In emacs_tags_new_filename(), a comma-search loop can reach the end of a fixed 512-byte heap buffer, after which include checking reads up to seven bytes past the allocation. Exploitation requires a user to load the malicious tags file and perform a tag lookup; the documented consequence is an editor crash.
Summary
What happened
Out-of-bounds read in Vim before 9.2.0074 allows attackers to crash the editor through a crafted Emacs-style tags file. In emacs_tags_new_filename(), a comma-search loop can reach the end of a fixed 512-byte heap buffer, after which include checking reads up to seven bytes past the allocation. Exploitation requires a user to load the malicious tags file and perform a tag lookup; the documented consequence is an editor crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-28418
- Published
- Feb 27, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 27, 2026
- Vendor
- Vim
- Product
- Vim
- Classifications
- CWE-122, CWE-125, T1204.002
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 27, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 27, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 9.2.0074
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Upstream evil Emacs tag-file regression testproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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