CVE-2025-49739Network attack vector

Privilege escalation via Standard Collector Service race

Published Jul 8, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026

Link-following in Microsoft Visual Studio's Standard Collector Service allows remote attackers to gain local privileges after user interaction. The service checks a file path and later accesses it without safely resolving intervening links, creating a time-of-check to time-of-use race. A remote attacker must induce user interaction and win that race; successful exploitation elevates privileges on the Windows host.

CVSS severity8.8
High
EPSS probability0.80%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Link-following in Microsoft Visual Studio's Standard Collector Service allows remote attackers to gain local privileges after user interaction. The service checks a file path and later accesses it without safely resolving intervening links, creating a time-of-check to time-of-use race. A remote attacker must induce user interaction and win that race; successful exploitation elevates privileges on the Windows host.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-49739
Published
Jul 8, 2025
Updated
Feb 26, 2026
Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Microsoft Visual Studio 2019
Classifications
CWE-59, T1068
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 8, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=16.11.0 <16.11.49

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2019version=16.11.0 <16.11.49
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2015version=14.0.0 <14.0.27564.0
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.10version=17.10.0 <17.10.17
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.12version=17.12.0 <17.12.10
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.8version=17.8.0 <17.8.23
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14version=17.14.0 <17.14.8
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2017version=15.9.0 <15.9.75

Published CVSS scores

8.8Microsoft CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-59Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
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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