Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code when they load software dependencies. A local attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could inject arbitrary code to run in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

To exploit this vulnerability, a local attacker would need to plant malicious content on an affected computer and wait for another user to launch Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code.

The update address the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code load software dependencies.