Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Released: Sep 8, 2020
- Assigning CNA
- Microsoft
- CVE.org link
- CVE-2020-16856
Executive Summary
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio when it improperly handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code 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. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would have to convince a user to open a specially crafted file with an affected version of Visual Studio.
The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Visual Studio handles objects in memory.
Exploitability
The following table provides an exploitability assessment for this vulnerability at the time of original publication.
- Publicly disclosed
- No
- Exploited
- No
- Exploitability assessment
- Exploitation Less Likely
Acknowledgements
- Wen guang Jiao working with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative
Security Updates
To determine the support lifecycle for your software, see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle.
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Disclaimer
Revisions
Information published.