Editor crash via unbounded spell-trie depth
Published Jun 25, 2026 · Updated Jun 25, 2026
Out-of-bounds write in Vim before 9.2.0653 allows attackers to crash the editor through a crafted spell-file pair. In tree_count_words(), a BY_INDEX cycle or deep shared chain bypasses the reader's recursion cap, letting an unchecked depth index write beyond three MAXWLEN stack arrays. Spell checking must be enabled, and the user must load the matching .spl and .sug files and request a suggestion; the reported impact is an editor crash.
Summary
What happened
Out-of-bounds write in Vim before 9.2.0653 allows attackers to crash the editor through a crafted spell-file pair. In tree_count_words(), a BY_INDEX cycle or deep shared chain bypasses the reader's recursion cap, letting an unchecked depth index write beyond three MAXWLEN stack arrays. Spell checking must be enabled, and the user must load the matching .spl and .sug files and request a suggestion; the reported impact is an editor crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-55693
- Published
- Jun 25, 2026
- Updated
- Jun 25, 2026
- Vendor
- Vim
- Product
- Vim
- Classifications
- CWE-787, T1204.002
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 25, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 9.2.0653
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
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.
Public exploit references
- Vim spell suggestion overflow regression reproducerfunctional · validated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo