vifm heap buffer overflow in crafted history entries
vifm file manager versions 0.12.1-0.14.3 contain a heap buffer overflow (CVE-2026-8997) triggered by crafted history entries during state-file save, potentially causing crashes or memory corruption.
Sourcecert.pl — open the original
What to check
- Applies to
- The 1 CVE named below. Whether you run an affected version is not assessed: check the versions the source lists.
- Exploitation
- No exploitation in the wild and no public exploit is recorded for the CVEs named.
CERT Polska coordinated disclosure of CVE-2026-8997, a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in vifm, a terminal-based file manager. The flaw exists in the history merge process when the application saves its state file (vifminfo.json). Due to missing runtime length checks on history entries in release builds, an attacker who can control or inject a crafted long path or command into the history can trigger memory corruption or cause the application to crash.
All vifm releases from version 0.12.1 through 0.14.3 are affected. The issue has been addressed in commit 23063c7. The vulnerability was responsibly reported by researchers from AFINE and coordinated through CERT Polska's vulnerability disclosure process.
While the vulnerability requires local access or the ability to influence history entries, organizations using vifm in multi-user environments or processing untrusted data should prioritize patching. The heap overflow could potentially be leveraged for code execution depending on exploit primitives, though no active exploitation has been reported.
Mentioned in this report
Source reporting: https://cert.pl/en/posts/2026/05/CVE-2026-8997
Free public brief. Slack alerts on the vendors you run come with the paid plans, and a new account gets three days of them, no card.
What this brief leaves out
This page is the free tier: the write-up, the severity, the names. In the app the same report carries live profiles of the CVEs it names. The paid plans add the security research and news reporting the free tier leaves out.
It sits in a corpus of 16,436 reports from 149 sources, 661 of them written in the last seven days, and it grows through the day.
A new account starts with three days of all of it, no card, then keeps the government and CERT reporting free. Slack alerts are a paid-plan feature: name the vendors you run and Slack hears about the reports that touch them, not the rest of the week's. Nothing is charged unless you subscribe.
Create a free account What it costs