CVE-2025-32702: Visual Studio 2019 RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2025-32702 Overview

CVE-2025-32702 is a command injection vulnerability affecting Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio 2022. The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of special elements used in a command, which allows an unauthorized attacker to execute arbitrary code locally. This security flaw is classified under CWE-77 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command).

The vulnerability requires local access and user interaction to exploit, but once successfully leveraged, an attacker can achieve full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the affected system.

Critical Impact

Successful exploitation allows unauthorized local code execution with potential for complete system compromise, affecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of development environments and potentially any code or secrets stored within Visual Studio projects.

Affected Products

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 (all versions prior to security patch)
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 (all versions prior to security patch)

Discovery Timeline

• May 13, 2025 - CVE-2025-32702 published to NVD
• May 19, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-32702

Vulnerability Analysis

This command injection vulnerability exists within Microsoft Visual Studio due to insufficient input validation and improper neutralization of special characters that can be interpreted as command elements. When certain inputs are processed by Visual Studio, an attacker can inject malicious commands that are then executed in the context of the application.

The local attack vector requires the attacker to have access to the target system or convince a user to interact with a malicious file or project. Once user interaction occurs, the injected commands execute without proper authorization, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the Visual Studio process.

The impact is significant for development environments, as Visual Studio typically has access to source code repositories, credentials stored in configuration files, build secrets, and other sensitive development assets. Compromise of a developer workstation through this vulnerability could lead to supply chain attacks if malicious code is injected into software projects.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-32702 is improper neutralization of special elements in command construction within Visual Studio. The application fails to adequately sanitize or escape user-controllable input before incorporating it into commands that are subsequently executed. This allows specially crafted input containing command separators, shell metacharacters, or other special elements to break out of the intended command context and execute attacker-controlled commands.

Attack Vector

The attack requires local access to the target system and some form of user interaction. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability through several potential scenarios:

1. Malicious Project Files: Crafting a Visual Studio project or solution file containing malicious payloads that trigger command injection when opened
2. Manipulated Extensions: Using malicious or compromised Visual Studio extensions that supply crafted input
3. Social Engineering: Convincing a developer to open a specially crafted file or interact with malicious content within the IDE

The exploitation mechanism involves inserting command injection payloads into input fields or file contents that are subsequently processed by Visual Studio without proper sanitization. The injected commands execute with the same privileges as the Visual Studio process, typically running under the user's context.

For technical details on the exploitation mechanism, refer to the Microsoft Security Update for CVE-2025-32702.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-32702

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected child processes spawned by devenv.exe (Visual Studio main process) such as cmd.exe, powershell.exe, or other shell interpreters
• Unusual command-line arguments in processes launched from Visual Studio
• Suspicious file system activity or network connections originating from Visual Studio processes
• Anomalous registry modifications by Visual Studio-related processes

Detection Strategies

• Monitor process creation events for Visual Studio (devenv.exe) spawning shell processes with suspicious command-line arguments
• Implement application whitelisting to detect unauthorized executables launched from the Visual Studio installation directory
• Deploy endpoint detection rules to identify command injection patterns in process arguments
• Review Windows Security Event logs for unusual process trees involving Visual Studio components

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed process auditing (Windows Event ID 4688) with command-line logging to capture process creation events
• Configure endpoint protection to alert on anomalous behavior from Visual Studio processes
• Implement file integrity monitoring on Visual Studio project directories to detect tampering
• Deploy network monitoring to identify unusual outbound connections from development workstations

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-32702

Immediate Actions Required

• Apply the latest Microsoft security updates for Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio 2022 immediately
• Review and audit Visual Studio projects from untrusted sources before opening
• Restrict the execution of scripts and external tools within Visual Studio until patches are applied
• Ensure development workstations have endpoint protection with behavioral analysis capabilities enabled

Patch Information

Microsoft has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Administrators should install the latest cumulative updates for both Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio 2022 through the standard update mechanisms:

1. Open Visual Studio
2. Navigate to Help → Check for Updates
3. Install all available security updates
4. Restart Visual Studio to complete the installation

For enterprise deployments, administrators can use the Microsoft Security Update for CVE-2025-32702 to obtain detailed patch information and deployment guidance.

Workarounds

• Avoid opening Visual Studio projects or solutions from untrusted or unknown sources
• Disable or restrict Visual Studio extensions that are not essential until updates are applied
• Run Visual Studio with least-privilege user accounts rather than administrative credentials
• Implement application control policies to restrict process execution from Visual Studio

# Verify Visual Studio version after patching
# Run from Developer Command Prompt for VS
devenv /version

# Review installed Visual Studio updates via PowerShell
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*Visual Studio*"} | Select-Object Name, Version