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🛡️ CVE-2023-46246 on Debian — vim

⚪ Unknown ✅ No Known Exploit OSV
N/A
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

Vim is an improved version of the good old UNIX editor Vi. Heap-use-after-free in memory allocated in the function ga_grow_inner in in the file src/alloc.c at line 748, which is freed in the file src/ex_docmd.c in the function do_cmdline at line 1010 and then used again in src/cmdhist.c at line 759. When using the :history command, it's possible that the provided argument overflows the accepted value. Causing an Integer Overflow and potentially later an use-after-free. This vulnerability has been patched in version 9.0.2068.

Distribution advisory

This page covers CVE-2023-46246 as tracked by Debian, for the package vim. The fix is available in version 2:9.0.2087-1; earlier versions remain affected.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Weakness class

DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46246 is classified as CWE-190: Integer Overflow or Wraparound. Arithmetic produces a value too large for its type and wraps around, so a later size or bounds check passes when it should not.

Affected software

DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46246 is recorded against 1 package.

  • vim (fixed in 2:9.0.2087-1)

Timeline and source

Published on 27 October 2023 and last revised on 7 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.

References

security-tracker.debian.org (Advisory)

Other advisories for this package

vim has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-190: Integer Overflow or Wraparound) in other software:

CVE-2023-46246 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Unknown
CVSS Score N/A
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source OSV
Published 2023-10-27
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-07
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
vim — 2:9.0.2087-1

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