Microsoft Visual Studio CVE-2019-1079 XML External Entity Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Description

Microsoft Visual Studio is prone to an information-disclosure vulnerability. Attackers can exploit this issue to obtain sensitive information that may lead to further attacks.

Technologies Affected

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 SP1
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Update 5
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Update 5
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 3

Recommendations

Deploy network intrusion detection systems to monitor network traffic for malicious activity.
Deploy NIDS to monitor network traffic for signs of anomalous or suspicious activity. This includes but is not limited to requests that include NOP sleds and unexplained incoming and outgoing traffic. This may indicate exploit attempts or activity that results from a successful exploit.

Do not accept or execute files from untrusted or unknown sources.
To limit exposure to these and other latent vulnerabilities, never handle files that originate from unfamiliar or untrusted sources.

Do not follow links provided by unknown or untrusted sources.
To reduce the likelihood of attacks, never visit sites of questionable integrity or follow links provided by unfamiliar or untrusted sources.

Implement multiple redundant layers of security.
As an added precaution, deploy memory-protection schemes (such as nonexecutable stack/heap configuration and randomly mapped memory segments). This may complicate exploits of memory-corruption vulnerabilities.

Run all software as a nonprivileged user with minimal access rights.
To reduce the impact of latent vulnerabilities, run applications with the minimal amount of privileges required for functionality.

Updates are available. Please see the references or vendor advisory for more information.