CVE-2025-26631: Visual Studio Code Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Overview

Severity

High (CVSS 7.3)

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Category

Elevation of Privilege

Exploit Status

Not Exploited

Exploitation Likelihood

Less Likely

Patch Tuesday

2025-Mar

Released

2025-03-11

EPSS Score

0.58% (percentile: 69.0%)

Description

Uncontrolled search path element in Visual Studio Code allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

FAQ

What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges. According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R) and privileges required is low (PR:L). What does that mean for this vulnerability? An authorized attacker must send the user a malicious file and convince the user to open it.

Affected Products (1)

Developer Tools

• Visual Studio Code

Security Updates (1)

• Release Notes

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://medium.com/@spoppi">Sandro Poppi</a>

Revision History

• 2025-03-11: Information published.