Improper neutralization of special elements in output used by a downstream component ('injection') in GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature over a network.
According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do? Exploitation of this vulnerability requires that an attacker convinces a user to open a maliciously crafted package file in Visual Studio. How could an attacker exploit this vulnerability? An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by embedding malicious instructions in user input or external content that is processed, causing it to bypass guardrails, treat those instructions as trusted, and execute unintended actions such as retrieving sensitive data.. What kind of security feature could be bypassed by successfully exploiting this vulnerability? Successful exploitation could bypass the path validation safeguards that check which files may be changed and require user approval for sensitive locations, allowing changes to protected files without the user’s knowledge or consent.
Alexander Tan