CVE-2022-38020

Local privilege escalation after user interaction

Published Sep 13, 2022 · Updated Mar 11, 2025

Elevation of privilege in Microsoft Visual Studio Code before 1.71.1 allows local users to gain elevated privileges after user interaction. Microsoft has not published the affected component, the untrusted input, or the incorrect operation that enables the privilege boundary crossing. Exploitation requires existing low-privilege access and action by another user; the vendor has not specified the resulting privilege level.

CVSS severity7.3
High
EPSS probability1.07%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Elevation of privilege in Microsoft Visual Studio Code before 1.71.1 allows local users to gain elevated privileges after user interaction. Microsoft has not published the affected component, the untrusted input, or the incorrect operation that enables the privilege boundary crossing. Exploitation requires existing low-privilege access and action by another user; the vendor has not specified the resulting privilege level.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-38020
Published
Sep 13, 2022
Updated
Mar 11, 2025
Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Visual Studio Code
Classifications
T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 13, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 11, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=1.0.0 <1.71.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Microsoft · Visual Studio Codeversion=1.0.0 <1.71.1

Published CVSS scores

7.3Microsoft CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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