Summary
Impact: Remote Code Execution. Microsoft rating: Important. Not known to be exploited — Exploitation Less Likely. Customer action: Required.
Details
How could an attacker exploit this vulnerability?
A remote attacker could convince a user to open a specially crafted extension's details page in Visual Studio Code and select a malicious link. Successful exploitation could allow the attacker to execute code in the context of the user without installing the extension. The attacker does not need privileges on the user's system.
According to the CVSS metric, the attack complexity is high (AC:H). What does that mean for this vulnerability?
Successful exploitation depends on specific conditions in the user's Visual Studio Code environment, including an already-open integrated terminal. The attacker must also rely on the user viewing the affected extension's details page in a particular platform-compatibility state.
Security updates
1.145.3 — https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_145
Vulnerabilities 1
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High 8.3
Visual Studio Code Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Improper neutralization of input during web page generation ('cross-site scripting') in Visual Studio Code allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.
Revision history
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#1
Information published.
References
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CVE-2026-121664 Visual Studio Code Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - HTML
https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-121664
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Microsoft Exploitability Index
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/exploitability-index?rtc=1
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Microsoft Support Lifecycle
https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle
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Common Vulnerability Scoring System
https://www.first.org/cvss