---
id: CVE-2026-43961
title: A flaw was found in Vim's netrw plugin
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in Vim's netrw plugin. A crafted filename containing quote
  characters and expression fragments can break out of the quoted context during
  mark/unmark operations, allowing arbitrary Vimscript execution. This can be
  levera…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-94
vendor: vim
product: vim
affected:
  - vim < 9.2.0480
  - vim-main (all versions)
  - vim (all versions)
  - vim
  - vim (all versions)
  - vim
  - vim (all versions)
  - openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8
  - openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
patched:
  - hardened_images
published: '2026-08-19'
updated: '2026-09-22'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-22T09:17:04.490'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43961'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57614'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-43961'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2460434'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/vim/vim/security/advisories/GHSA-66hr-7p6x-x5j3'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/14/7'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-43961.json
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43961'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43961'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-08-19T14:15:10.966562Z'
epss: 0.0022
epssPercentile: 0.1113
ingestedAt: '2026-09-21T10:35:15.463Z'
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in Vim's netrw plugin. A crafted filename containing quote characters and expression fragments can break out of the quoted context during mark/unmark operations, allowing arbitrary Vimscript execution. This can be leveraged to run shell commands with the privileges of the user running Vim.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **RHSA-2026:57614** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat Hardened Images · released 2026-08-20 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57614)
- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · updated 2026-09-21 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-43961.json)