CVE-2020-16856: Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
High (CVSS 7.8)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Remote Code Execution
Exploit Status
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
Less Likely
Patch Tuesday
2020-Sep
Released
2020-09-08
EPSS Score
12.15% (percentile: 93.8%)

Description

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.

Affected Products (7)

Other

  • 11785
  • 11600
  • 11658
  • 11720
  • 10326
  • 10566
  • 10577

Security Updates (7)

Acknowledgments

Wen guang Jiao working with <a href="https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/">Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative</a>

Revision History

  • 2020-09-08: Information published.