Advisory Details

July 19th, 2021

Microsoft Visual Studio Code maven.executable.options Command Injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

ZDI-21-827
ZDI-CAN-13463

CVE ID CVE-2021-34529
CVSS SCORE 7.8, AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AFFECTED VENDORS Microsoft
AFFECTED PRODUCTS Visual Studio Code
VULNERABILITY DETAILS

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Microsoft Visual Studio Code. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file.

The specific flaw exists within the processing of the settings.json file. When parsing the maven.executable.options parameter, the process does not properly validate a user-supplied string before using it to execute a system call. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current user.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS Microsoft has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2021-34529
DISCLOSURE TIMELINE
  • 2021-03-17 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2021-07-19 - Coordinated public release of advisory
CREDIT Kc Udonsi (@glitchnsec) of Trend Micro Security Research
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