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Security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVCVE: CVE-2020-0604

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when it process environment variables after opening a project. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a target to clone a repository and open it in Visual Studio Code. Attacker-specified code would execute when the target opened the integrated terminal. The update address the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code handles environment variables.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
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Fixed versions
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CVEs
CVE-2020-0604
Confirmed fixed CVEs
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Updated in this feed
1 Nov 2026, 08:08 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

CVE-2020-0604

core-osv · Original source

Published 17 Aug 2020, 19:15 UTC

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when it process environment variables after opening a project. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a target to clone a repository and open it in Visual Studio Code. Attacker-specified code would execute when the target opened the integrated terminal. The update address the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code handles environment variables.

osv:CVE-2020-0604
Complete source record
{
  "id": "2349e96b7873ea2066f97179778d30fd5e7ad222a9f2b63948bc8116d1ab194b",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-0604",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "CVE-2020-0604",
    "summary": "A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when it process environment variables after opening a project. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a target to clone a repository and open it in Visual Studio Code. Attacker-specified code would execute when the target opened the integrated terminal. The update address the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code handles environment variables.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2020-0604",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "high",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2020-0604",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2020-0604"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-maven",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "659a7e320351efe969708928b8cb26d0c239c52c"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visual_studio_code:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "0.24.0"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "v0.23.0",
            "v0.22.0",
            "v0.21.4",
            "v0.21.3",
            "v0.21.2",
            "v0.21.1",
            "v0.21.0",
            "v0.20.2",
            "v0.20.1",
            "v0.20.0",
            "v0.19.1",
            "v0.19.0",
            "v0.18.2",
            "v0.18.1",
            "v0.18.0",
            "v0.17.1",
            "v0.17.0",
            "v0.16.2",
            "v0.16.1",
            "v0.16.0",
            "v0.15.1",
            "v0.15.0",
            "v0.14.2",
            "v0.14.1",
            "v0.14.0",
            "v0.13.0",
            "v0.12.1",
            "v0.12.0",
            "v0.11.3",
            "v0.11.2",
            "v0.11.1",
            "v0.11.0",
            "v0.10.0",
            "v0.9.2",
            "v0.9.1",
            "v0.9.0",
            "v0.8.0",
            "v0.7.0",
            "v0.6.0",
            "v0.5.2",
            "v0.5.1",
            "v0.5.0",
            "v0.4.0",
            "v0.3.0",
            "v0.2.1",
            "v0.2.0",
            "v0.1.4",
            "v0.1.3",
            "v0.1.2",
            "v0.1.1",
            "v0.1.0",
            "v0.0.6",
            "v0.0.5",
            "v0.0.4"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2020-0604.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-24T10:31:03.294014651Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-0604"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "unresolved_ranges": [
          {
            "cpes": [
              "cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visual_studio_code:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
            ],
            "vendor_product": "microsoft:visual_studio_code",
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "fixed": "0.24.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "0.24.0"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "CPE_RANGE"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2020-0604",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 440221,
  "published_at": "2020-08-17T19:15:13.817+00:00"
}