# CVE-2018-1037: Information disclosure in Microsoft Visual Studio

> Attackers can read uninitialized memory contents when Visual Studio compiles PDB files, potentially exposing sensitive data.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Apr 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mrwc-m279-7475

## What is CVE-2018-1037?

CVE-2018-1037 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio, published on 12 Apr 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

An information disclosure vulnerability exists when Visual Studio improperly discloses limited contents of uninitialized memory while compiling program database (PDB) files, aka "Microsoft Visual Studio Information Disclosure Vulnerability." This affects Microsoft Visual Studio.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-1037?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio 2017.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-1037?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-1037 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-1037 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1037 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visual Studio

- [CVE-2025-49739](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49739/): Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-35777](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35777/): Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-35825](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35825/): Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-35826](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35826/): Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-35827](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35827/): Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-1037 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-1037 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio, published on 12 Apr 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1037 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Visual Studio. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1037/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1037/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-1037
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-1037
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-1037

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1037/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.