{"id":64119,"date":"2025-08-17T11:38:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T11:38:48","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-29T22:43:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T04:43:47","slug":"cve-2025-55157-vim-text-editor-use-after-free-vulnerability-resulting-in-memory-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-55157-vim-text-editor-use-after-free-vulnerability-resulting-in-memory-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-55157: Vim Text Editor Use-After-Free Vulnerability Resulting in Memory Corruption<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The recently discovered vulnerability CVE-2025-55157 has raised concerns in the cybersecurity community due to its potential to compromise systems or lead to data leakage. The vulnerability lies within Vim, the widely used open-source command line text editor. Users who are running Vim versions between 9.1.1231 and 9.1.1400 are at risk of this vulnerability, which can lead to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27031-memory-corruption-via-ioctl-commands-processing\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"71580\">memory corruption<\/a> during the processing of nested tuples in Vim script. The severity of this threat is highlighted by its high CVSS Score, making it an issue that demands immediate attention.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-55157<br \/>\nSeverity: High &#8211; 8.8 CVSS Score<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Direct user interaction via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-50754-stored-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability-leading-to-remote-code-execution-in-unisite-cms-5-0\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74677\">script execution<\/a><br \/>\nPrivileges Required: User-level privileges<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: Memory corruption <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-30327-integer-overflow-vulnerability-in-incopy-leading-to-potential-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"73667\">potentially leading<\/a> to system compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1246510271\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Vim | 9.1.1231 to 9.1.1400<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27052-memory-corruption-vulnerability-in-unix-clients-processing-data-packets\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74095\">vulnerability CVE-2025-55157 is triggered when processing<\/a> nested tuples in Vim script, specifically when an error occurs during the evaluation. This error can trigger a use-after-free scenario in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-55158-critical-memory-management-vulnerability-in-vim-text-editor\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78870\">Vim&#8217;s internal tuple reference management<\/a>. This occurs when the tuple_unref() function accesses memory that has already been freed due to improper lifetime handling, which in turn leads to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27042-a-critical-memory-corruption-vulnerability-in-video-processing\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74082\">memory corruption<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3883643175\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Given the nature of this vulnerability, it is exploited through the execution of Vim scripts that contain nested tuples. An example of this might look like the following:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">&quot; Nested Tuples\nlet nested_tuple = [(1,2), (3,4)]\n&quot; Triggering error during evaluation\nexecute &#039;let (&#039; . nested_tuple[0] . &#039;,) = [1]&#039;<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This pseudocode demonstrates a conceptual scenario where the vulnerability might be exploited. It creates a nested tuple and then triggers an error during evaluation, which could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27055-memory-corruption-leads-to-potential-system-compromise-during-image-encoding\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74176\">potentially lead to memory corruption<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are urged to apply the vendor patch as soon as possible, as this is the most secure solution. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43588-out-of-bounds-write-vulnerability-in-substance3d-sampler-versions-5-0-and-earlier\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"73499\">vulnerability has been patched in Vim version<\/a> 9.1.1400, so updating to this or a later version will resolve the issue. In the meantime, or if an immediate update is not possible, it is recommended to use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation measure. These <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27050-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise-and-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74771\">systems can detect and block attempts to exploit the vulnerability<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The recently discovered vulnerability CVE-2025-55157 has raised concerns in the cybersecurity community due to its potential to compromise systems or lead to data leakage. The vulnerability lies within Vim, the widely used open-source command line text editor. Users who are running Vim versions between 9.1.1231 and 9.1.1400 are at risk of this vulnerability, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-64119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64119"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71267,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64119\/revisions\/71267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64119"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=64119"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=64119"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=64119"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=64119"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=64119"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=64119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}