CVE-2020-16881

published 2020-09-11

CVE-2020-16881: A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when a user is tricked into opening a malicious 'package.json' file. An attacker who…

Priority P3 44 high 7.8 CVSS 3.1

AV L AC L PR N UI R S U C H I H A H

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when a user is tricked into opening a malicious 'package.json' file. 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.
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a target to clone a repository and open it in Visual Studio Code. Attacker-specified code would execute when the target opens the malicious 'package.json' file.
The update address the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code handles JSON files.

Affected

3 ranges

Vendor	Product	Version range	Fixed in
microsoft	visual_studio_code	< 1.48.1	1.48.1
microsoft	visual_studio_code	>= 1.0.0 < publication	publication
msrc	visual_studio_code	—	—

CVSS provenance

nvd v3.1 7.8 HIGH CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd v2.0 9.3 CRITICAL AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

vendor_msrc 7.8 HIGH

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CWE-20