# CVE-2023-36758: Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

> An attacker can exploit a path traversal flaw in Visual Studio to escalate privileges on the local system.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C`)
- **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:** 12 Sep 2023
- **Updated:** 30 Oct 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rfmm-9cg4-c4cw

## What is CVE-2023-36758?

CVE-2023-36758 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022, published on 12 Sep 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-36758?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Microsoft Visual Studio 2022.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-36758?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-36758 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-36758 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-36758 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022

- [CVE-2026-21256](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-21256/): GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-21257](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-21257/): GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2026-47305](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-47305/): Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2025-53773](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-53773/): GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2025-29802](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-29802/): Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (high 7.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-36758 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-36758 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022, published on 12 Sep 2023. 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-2023-36758 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Visual Studio 2022. 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-2023-36758/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36758/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-36758
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-36758
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-36758

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36758/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.