CVE-2018-8172 — Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Executive Summary

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio software when the software does not check the source code of a file for an unbuilt project. 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. Exploitation of the vulnerability requires that a user open a specially crafted file with an affected version of Visual Studio. In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending a specially crafted project, or resource file, to the user and convince the user to open the file. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Visual Studio checks the source code of a file.

Overview

Important

MS Severity

Not Exploited

MS Exploit Status

Less Likely

MS Exploit Likelihood

Category Remote Code Execution

Released Jul 10 2018

Last Updated Jul 10 2018

Publicly Disclosed No

CISA KEV Not Listed

Known Exploits None Known

EPSS Score

No EPSS score available for this CVE.

View on FIRST.org

Affected Products

9 affected products

Product	KB Article	Severity	Impact	Restart Required
Expression Blend 2 Service Pack 2	`4342191 (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Expression Blend 3 Service Pack 1	`4342192 (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Expression Blend 4 Service Pack 3	`4342193 (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1	`4336919 (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Update 5	`4336946 (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Update 5	`4336986 (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 3	`4336999 (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Visual Studio 2017	`Release Notes (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.7.5	`Release Notes (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	Maybe

Patches

8 patches

Article	Type	Restart
`4342191`	Security Update	Maybe
`4342192`	Security Update	Maybe
`4342193`	Security Update	Maybe
`4336919`	Security Update	Maybe
`4336946`	Security Update	Maybe
`4336986`	Security Update	Maybe
`4336999`	Security Update	Maybe
`Release Notes`	Security Update	Maybe

Known Exploits

No known exploits have been linked for this CVE yet. When available, exploit references will be sourced from public repositories and may be unverified, incomplete, or non-functional. Always review code carefully before use in any environment.

Acknowledgments

Soroush Dalili

References

MSRC Advisory MITRE NVD