CVE-2025-53773 is a command injection vulnerability classified under CWE-77, found in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14. The flaw arises from improper neutralization of special characters in commands processed by Visual Studio's GitHub Copilot feature, allowing an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary commands locally. This vulnerability does not require prior authentication but does require user interaction, such as opening a malicious project or code snippet that triggers the injection vector. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.8, reflecting high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The attack vector is local (AV:L), with low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), but user interaction is necessary (UI:R). The scope is unchanged (S:U), and the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high (C:H/I:H/A:H). Although no exploits are currently known in the wild, the vulnerability poses a significant risk to development environments where Visual Studio 2022 17.14 is used, especially when GitHub Copilot is enabled. The vulnerability could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, potentially leading to data theft, system compromise, or disruption of development workflows. Microsoft has not yet released a patch, so organizations must be vigilant and implement interim mitigations.

For European organizations, this vulnerability threatens the security of software development environments, potentially leading to unauthorized code execution on developer machines. This can result in theft of intellectual property, insertion of malicious code into software projects, and disruption of development pipelines. The high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability means sensitive source code and development tools could be compromised. Organizations relying heavily on Visual Studio 2022 17.14 and GitHub Copilot are particularly at risk. The local attack vector and requirement for user interaction mean that social engineering or malicious code delivery through shared projects could facilitate exploitation. The disruption could extend to supply chain risks if compromised code is propagated downstream. Given the widespread use of Visual Studio in European tech sectors, the potential impact is significant, especially in countries with large software development industries.

1. Monitor Microsoft communications closely and apply security patches immediately upon release. 2. Until patches are available, disable GitHub Copilot integration in Visual Studio 2022 17.14 to eliminate the attack surface related to this vulnerability. 3. Enforce the principle of least privilege on developer workstations to limit the impact of any local code execution. 4. Educate developers about the risks of opening untrusted projects or code snippets, emphasizing caution with user interaction that could trigger the vulnerability. 5. Implement endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor for unusual command execution patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. 6. Use application whitelisting to restrict execution of unauthorized code on development machines. 7. Regularly audit and review development environment configurations to ensure no unnecessary features or extensions increase risk. 8. Employ network segmentation to isolate development environments from critical production systems to limit lateral movement if compromise occurs.