# CVE-2020-0900: Privilege escalation in Microsoft Visual Studio

> Attackers can gain elevated privileges by exploiting improper file handling in the Visual Studio Extension Installer Service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Apr 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-m8rj-v5pg-g6vq

## What is CVE-2020-0900?

CVE-2020-0900 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2017, published on 15 Apr 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Visual Studio Extension Installer Service improperly handles file operations, aka 'Visual Studio Extension Installer Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-0900?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Microsoft Visual Studio 2015, Microsoft Visual Studio 2017, Microsoft Visual Studio 2019.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-0900?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-0900 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-0900 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-0900 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visual Studio 2017

- [CVE-2020-0793](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-0793/): Privilege escalation in Microsoft Visual Studio (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-0810](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-0810/): Privilege escalation in Microsoft Visual Studio (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2018-0952](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0952/): Privilege escalation in Microsoft Visual Studio (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-0900 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-0900 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2017, published on 15 Apr 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-0900 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Visual Studio 2017. 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-2020-0900/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-0900/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-0900
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-0900
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-0900

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-0900/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.