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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Gentoo Local Security Checks >> [GLSA-200412-10] Vim, gVim: Vulnerable options in modelines

Vulnerability Assessment Details

[GLSA-200412-10] Vim, gVim: Vulnerable options in modelines

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Vim, gVim: Vulnerable options in modelines

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment
The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200412-10
(Vim, gVim: Vulnerable options in modelines)

Gentoo's Vim maintainer, Ciaran McCreesh, found several
vulnerabilities related to the use of options in Vim modelines. Options
like 'termcap', 'printdevice', 'titleold', 'filetype', 'syntax',
'backupext', 'keymap', 'patchmode' or 'langmenu' could be abused.

Impact

A local attacker could write a malicious file in a world readable
location which, when opened in a modeline-enabled Vim, could trigger
arbitrary commands with the rights of the user opening the file,
resulting in privilege escalation. Please note that modelines are
disabled by default in the /etc/vimrc file provided in Gentoo.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

References:
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2004-1138

Solution:
All Vim users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-editors/vim-6.3-r2"
All gVim users should also upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-editors/gvim-6.3-r2"

Network Security Threat Level: Medium

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: (C) 2005 Michel Arboi

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