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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Gain man-in-the-middle network position
  2. Exploit
    Present fraudulent/invalid certificate
  3. Execution
    Visual Studio fails certificate validation
  4. Impact
    Spoof trusted server and intercept or tamper with data

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V12 - Secure Communication Certificate validation
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires improper certificate validation in Visual Studio to be triggered over a network, which per the CVSS high attack complexity (AC:H) realistically requires the attacker to hold an intercepting/man-in-the-middle position on the network path between the IDE and a remote server so a forged or invalid certificate can be offered; the available sources do not describe the precise trigger beyond this. No authentication is required (PR:N) and no user interaction is required (UI:N), but the need for a privileged network position and the high complexity meaningfully limit opportunistic, widespread exploitation. Affected and requiring update are Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9, 2019 version 16.11, 2022 version 17.14, and 2026 version 18.11; applying the vendor update is the remediation indicated by the evidence (official fix available).

Impact

This is a moderate-priority issue rather than a drop-everything emergency, and the signals are internally consistent. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.4 derives from a network vector with no privileges and no user interaction (AV:N/PR:N/UI:N) but high attack complexity (AC:H), with high confidentiality and integrity impact and no availability impact (C:H/I:H/A:N). The temporal metrics reinforce a lower real-world urgency: Exploit Code Maturity is Unproven (E:U), an Official fix is available (RL:O), and Report Confidence is Confirmed (RC:C). No CISA KEV listing and no EPSS score are provided, and no public exploit is referenced, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis. The vuln.today decision label is 'this_week', which aligns with a patch-available, not-actively-exploited certificate-validation flaw. The AC:H metric indicates a non-trivial precondition - typically an attacker needing a privileged network (man-in-the-middle) position - but the available sources do not describe the precise trigger, so the mechanism behind AC:H should be treated as unconfirmed. There is no conflict between the signals; the main gap is the absence of EPSS and the lack of any technical detail beyond the one-line NVD description.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who can intercept network traffic between a developer's Visual Studio instance and a remote endpoint (for example on a shared or compromised network) presents a fraudulent or invalid TLS certificate that Visual Studio fails to properly validate, allowing the attacker to impersonate a trusted server. This enables spoofing of the trusted connection, potentially exposing or altering data exchanged during the session. No public exploit is identified at time of analysis, and the exploit code is rated Unproven (E:U).

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 31, 2026

Spoofing in Microsoft Visual Studio stems from improper certificate validation and can let an unauthenticated remote attacker impersonate a remote endpoint, with high confidentiality and integrity impact and no availability impact per the CVSS vector. The issue affects Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9, 2019 version 16.11, 2022 version 17.14, and 2026 version 18.11; exploitation is high-complexity and realistically requires an intercepting position on the network path. No public exploit was identified at time of analysis, and the available vendor update is the indicated remediation.

RemediationAI

Apply the Microsoft vendor update for CVE-2026-118147 to every affected Visual Studio branch: 2017 version 15.9, 2019 version 16.11, 2022 version 17.14, and 2026 version 18.11, using the MSRC update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-118147. Patch status is 'Patch available per vendor advisory'; the provided data does not include exact fixed build numbers, so use the advisory's branch-specific updates. The evidence identifies the official vendor fix as the remediation and does not specify additional workarounds.

Affected VersionsENISA

Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 15.9.0 <15.9.84
Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14 17.14.0 <17.14.44
Microsoft Visual Studio 2026 version 18.11 18.11.0 <18.11.3
Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.11 16.11.0 <16.11.62

Affected Packages

euvd microsoft_visual_studio_2017_version_15_9 fix: 15.9.84
euvd microsoft_visual_studio_2019_version_16_11 fix: 16.11.62
euvd microsoft_visual_studio_2022_version_17_14 fix: 17.14.44
euvd microsoft_visual_studio_2026_version_18_11 fix: 18.11.3

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 4 packages in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The root cause is CWE-295, improper certificate validation: the IDE does not correctly validate a certificate presented by a remote endpoint, so a forged or otherwise invalid certificate can be accepted and a remote server impersonated. The CVSS vector is AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N, meaning network-reachable, no authentication and no user interaction, but high attack complexity; the supplied assessment states this realistically requires the attacker to hold an intercepting/man-in-the-middle position between the IDE and a remote server. The CPE data identifies the affected branches as Visual Studio 2017 15.9, 2019 16.11, 2022 17.14, and 2026 18.11; the precise trigger beyond network certificate validation is not described in the available sources.

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Severity by source

Vendor (microsoft) PRIMARY HIGH
NVD 7.4 HIGH
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
vuln.today AI 7.4 HIGH

Network-reachable with no auth or interaction (AV:N/PR:N/UI:N), but AC:H reflects the required MITM positioning; spoofing a trusted channel yields high confidentiality and integrity impact, no availability impact.

3.1 AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

DescriptionNVD

Improper certificate validation in Visual Studio allows an unauthorized attacker to perform spoofing over a network.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

A high-severity spoofing vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio could allow an attacker to impersonate a remote endpoint, compromising the confidentiality and integrity of development communications. This affects development teams using Visual Studio 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2026, potentially exposing source code or sensitive project data to interception or manipulation; leadership should prioritize remediation to protect intellectual property and maintain trust in the software supply chain.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

Prevalence
High
Microsoft Visual Studio is a very widely deployed enterprise developer IDE
Vendor Status
Publicly Disclosed:No
Exploited:No
Latest Software Release:Exploitation Less Likely
Social Media
3
Sightings
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS N/A
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
High

Priority Score

37
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +37
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.

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9.8 Jul 14

Security feature bypass in Microsoft .NET (shipped via Visual Studio 2022 17.12/17.14 and Visual Studio 2026 18.7) lets

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8.2 Jul 14

Security feature bypass in Microsoft .NET (versions 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0) lets a remote, unauthenticated attacker circumve

CVE-2026-50651 HIGH POC
7.5 Jul 14

Network denial of service in Microsoft .NET 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0 (and the corresponding Visual Studio 2022/2026 tooling) a

CVE-2026-50525 HIGH POC
7.5 Jul 14

Network-based denial of service in Microsoft .NET 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0 allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exhaus

CVE-2026-32177 HIGH POC
7.3 May 12

Local privilege escalation in Microsoft .NET Framework (versions 3.5 through 10.0) and Visual Studio 2017 occurs through

CVE-2026-50659 MEDIUM POC
6.5 Jul 14

Output spoofing via improper encoding in Microsoft .NET 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0 allows a low-privileged network attacker to m

CVE-2026-47303 HIGH
8.8 Jul 14

Privilege elevation in ASP.NET Core (bundled with .NET 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0) lets an already-authenticated, low-privileged

CVE-2026-47300 HIGH
8.8 Jul 14

Privilege elevation in ASP.NET Core (bundled with .NET 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0) lets an already-authenticated, low-privileged

CVE-2026-32175 MEDIUM POC
4.3 May 12

Absolute path traversal in Microsoft .NET Core (Windows runtime, versions 8.0 through 10.0) enables a network-accessible

CVE-2026-50646 HIGH
7.8 Jul 14

Local code execution in Microsoft .NET (Framework 3.5 through 4.8.1, .NET 8.0/9.0, and Visual Studio 2022/2026) arises f

CVE-2026-50649 HIGH
7.8 Jul 14

Local code execution in Microsoft .NET 8.0 and 9.0 (and bundled Visual Studio 2022/2026 toolchains) arises from unsafe d

CVE-2026-47305 HIGH
7.8 Jul 14

Local code execution in Microsoft Visual Studio (2022 versions 17.12 and 17.14, and 2026 version 18.7) stems from a prot

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