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CVE-2025-49739VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-49739: Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 · Link Following

Affects Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 3Source CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
8.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 60% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 8 Jul 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
NuGetmicrosoft.visualstudiopkg:nuget/microsoft.visualstudioOther threatsAffected
  • =14.0.0
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Until an official patch is released by Microsoft, organizations should implement several targeted mitigations: 1) Restrict network access to development machines running Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, limiting exposure to untrusted networks. 2) Enforce strict user privilege separation and avoid running Visual Studio with administrative privileges to reduce the impact of privilege escalation. 3) Educate users to avoid opening untrusted or unsolicited project files or solutions, minimizing the risk of triggering the vulnerability via crafted files. 4) Employ application whitelisting and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor and block suspicious file system activities related to symbolic link manipulation. 5) Consider upgrading to a supported and patched version of Visual Studio, as legacy versions are more susceptible to vulnerabilities and lack security updates. 6) Implement file system permissions and policies that prevent unauthorized creation or modification of symbolic links in development environments. 7) Monitor security advisories from Microsoft for updates or patches addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once available.

Description

Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Visual Studio allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.

References

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