CVE-2026-102238: CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') in Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Description
Improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory ('path traversal') in Visual Studio Code allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.
CVSS v3.1
Score 9.6critical
Affected software
Microsoft
Visual Studio Code
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Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability (CWE-22) in Visual Studio Code involves improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory, enabling an attacker to perform path traversal. This flaw allows remote code execution without privileges and with low attack complexity, requiring user interaction. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.6, indicating critical severity with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Microsoft has published an official fix for affected versions.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation can lead to remote code execution by an unauthorized attacker, compromising system confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The vulnerability requires no privileges but does require user interaction. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time.
Mitigation Recommendations
An official fix is available from Microsoft. Users should update Visual Studio Code to version 1.141.1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Refer to the Microsoft advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-102238 for detailed patch information.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- microsoft
- Date Reserved
- 2026-09-28T18:28:18.686Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- official-fix
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-102238","vendor":"Microsoft"}]
Threat ID: 6ace881c2cdf04f656a23525
Added to database: 10/13/2026, 19:35:56 UTC
Last enriched: 10/13/2026, 19:48:40 UTC
Last updated: 10/13/2026, 22:35:49 UTC
Views: 8
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