Vulnerability · Published Sep 11, 2020 · Assigned by microsoft
CVE-2020-16856Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
High 7.8
In plain English
A high-severity security flaw in Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Update 5 from Microsoft. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 4.4% (higher than 91% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official description
<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Visual Studio handles objects in memory.</p>
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 (includes 16.0 – 16.6) | 16.0.0 – before publication |
| Microsoft | Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 (includes 15.0 - 15.8) | 15.9.0 – before publication |
| Microsoft | Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.0 | 16.0 – before publication |
| Microsoft | Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.4 (includes 16.0 - 16.3) | 16.0 – before publication |
| Microsoft | Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Update 5 | 11.0.0 – before publication |
| Microsoft | Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Update 5 | 12.0.0 – before publication |
| Microsoft | Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 | 14.0.0 – before publication |