This flaw is present in the ‘indent’ and ‘cindent’ plugins. It was discovered by Soroush Dalirian of VDAC. An attacker can leverage this bug to execute arbitrary code on the system. There is no need to send the victim a malicous email or trick them into visiting a malicious website. An attacker can exploit this flaw by placing a malicous buffer in the code of a blog post, a form, or a staff member’s report. Once the victim saves the malicous buffer, the malicious code is executed.

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in vim is a well-known issue, and there are multiple mitigations available. However, there is no perfect solution to this issue. For example, most editors have an option to disable unsafe paste, but this option is not available in vim. Another option is to use an anti-virus software, and this can be done for every file that is opened. However, anti-virus software cannot detect or prevent every malicous code.

Solution

The most reliable way to avoid exploitation of this flaw is to run code through a compiler or antivirus software. However, this solution can be time-consuming and cumbersome. Since vim is the most common editor in use, it is worth giving thought to using an alternative editor for editing blog posts.
Soroush Dalirian

CVE-2022-0157

This flaw is present in the ‘indent’ and ‘cindent’ plugins. It was discovered by Soroush Dalirian of VDAC. An attacker can leverage this bug to execute arbitrary code on the system. There is no need to send the victim a malicous email or trick them into visiting a malicious website. An attacker can exploit this flaw by placing a malicous buffer in the code of a blog post, a form, or a staff member’s report. Once the victim saves the malicous buffer, the malicious code is executed.

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in vim is a well-known issue, and there are multiple mitigations available. However, there is no perfect solution to this issue. For example, most editors have an option to disable unsafe paste, but this option is not available in vim. Another option is to use an anti-virus software, and this can be done for every file that is opened. However, anti-virus software cannot detect or prevent every malicous code.

What is vim?

Vim is a text editor that has been developed over two decades by Bram Moolenaar. It was originally designed to be operated with the keyboard, but later versions were introduced that allow for use on the screen as well. Vim is one of the most powerful editors used today, and it is available in many different languages.

There are multiple ways to prevent this issue from occurring, not just anti-virus software. For example, vim has an option to disable paste without confirmation, or users can continue to use vim without using the plugin ‘indent’ or ‘cindent’. Another option is disabling unsafe paste with an configurable timeout period.

Timeline

Published on: 01/10/2022 16:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 08/26/2022 17:46:00 UTC

References