Privilege escalation in Visual Studio Code

1) Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

EUVDB-ID: #VU21926

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 6.8 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-1414

CWE-ID: CWE-264 - Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists due to an error in Visual Studio Code Visual Studio Code. A local user can run a specially crafted application to inject and execute arbitrary code on the system in context of the current user.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Visual Studio Code: 1.30.0 - 1.39.0

External links

http://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2019-1414
http://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_39

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.