Microsoft Visual Studio initializeCommand Insufficient UI Warning Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

June 10th, 2025
ZDI-25-359 ZDI-CAN-26586

CVE ID

CVE-2025-47959

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

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Microsoft Visual Studio. 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 handling of the devcontainer.json file. When opening an project, the user interface fails to warn the user of unsafe actions. 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-2025-47959

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2025-02-19 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2025-06-10 - Coordinated public release of advisory
  • 2025-06-11 - Advisory Updated

Credit

Nitesh Surana (@_niteshsurana) & Nelson William Gamazo Sanchez of Trend Micro Research

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