CVE-2020-16881

high Microsoft
CVSS v3 Base Score
7.8
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score
17.0%
Exploitation probability in 30 days
Top 5% most likely to be exploited
Attack Characteristics
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Published: September 11, 2020 (2071 days ago)
Last Modified: February 23, 2026
Vendor: Microsoft

Description

<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>The update address the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code handles JSON files.</p>

CWE

NVD-CWE-noinfo

Affected Products

microsoft visual studio code

References