CVE-2025-47959 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability identified in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.12. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-77, which involves improper neutralization of special elements used in commands. This vulnerability allows an authorized attacker to execute arbitrary code remotely over a network. Specifically, the flaw arises because Visual Studio 2022 version 17.12 does not adequately sanitize or neutralize special characters or command elements in inputs that are processed as system commands. As a result, an attacker with limited privileges (low privileges) who can authenticate and interact with the system remotely can craft malicious inputs that cause the execution of arbitrary commands. The CVSS v3.1 score is 7.1, indicating a high severity level. The vector metrics are AV:N (Network attack vector), AC:H (High attack complexity), PR:L (Low privileges required), UI:R (User interaction required), S:U (Scope unchanged), with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches are linked yet, indicating that this vulnerability is newly disclosed and may require urgent attention. The vulnerability affects only version 17.12.0 of Visual Studio 2022, which is a widely used integrated development environment (IDE) for software development, especially in enterprise and professional environments.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be significant. Visual Studio is extensively used by software developers and IT teams across Europe, including in sectors such as finance, manufacturing, telecommunications, and government. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized code execution on developer workstations or build servers, potentially allowing attackers to inject malicious code into software projects, compromise source code integrity, or disrupt development pipelines. This can result in intellectual property theft, supply chain compromise, and operational disruption. Since the vulnerability requires authentication and user interaction, targeted phishing or social engineering attacks could be used to trigger exploitation. The high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability means that sensitive data and critical development environments could be compromised, leading to reputational damage, regulatory penalties under GDPR, and financial losses. The lack of known exploits currently provides a window for mitigation before widespread attacks emerge.

European organizations should prioritize the following mitigations: 1) Immediate identification of all Visual Studio 2022 version 17.12.0 installations across development and build environments. 2) Restrict network access to Visual Studio services and development machines to trusted users and networks only, using network segmentation and firewalls. 3) Enforce strict authentication controls and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users accessing Visual Studio environments to reduce risk of credential compromise. 4) Educate developers and IT staff about the risk of social engineering and the need to avoid interacting with suspicious prompts or inputs. 5) Monitor logs and network traffic for unusual command execution patterns or unauthorized access attempts. 6) Apply vendor patches or updates as soon as they become available; in the absence of patches, consider temporary workarounds such as disabling remote command execution features or limiting Visual Studio network exposure. 7) Implement code integrity verification and secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices to detect and prevent malicious code injection. 8) Regularly back up critical development assets and source code repositories to enable recovery in case of compromise.