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Visual StudioApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2025-49739

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.9.75 / 16.11.49 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Visual Studio allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Visual Studio contains a link following (symlink) vulnerability where the software does not properly resolve symbolic links before accessing files. This allows an attacker with local access to create malicious symlinks that can be followed by Visual Studio to access sensitive files or locations they would not normally have permission to access, potentially leading to privilege escalation.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches for Visual Studio when available. Restrict file system permissions to prevent untrusted users from creating symbolic links in directories accessed by Visual Studio, particularly in project and solution locations.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Visual StudioApplication
Affected:= 2015
Visual Studio 2017Application
Affected:>= 15.0, < 15.9.75
Visual Studio 2019Application
Affected:>= 16.0, < 16.11.49
Visual Studio 2022Application
Affected:>= 17.8.0, < 17.8.23>= 17.10.0, < 17.10.17>= 17.12.0, < 17.12.10>= 17.14.0, < 17.14.8

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Find installed Visual Studio version
    Open Visual Studio, go to Help > About Microsoft Visual Studio to see the version number and build
    Affected if Visual Studio is installed on the system
  2. Note exact version and build number
    Record the full version displayed (for example, 17.12.5 or 16.11.48)
    Affected if A version number is visible in the About dialog
  3. Compare against affected version ranges
    Check if your version falls within: VS2015 (=2015 exactly), VS2017 (15.0 to 15.9.74), VS2019 (16.0 to 16.11.48), VS2022 (17.8.0-17.8.22, 17.10.0-17.10.16, 17.12.0-17.12.9, or 17.14.0-17.14.7)
    Affected if Your installed version is within any of these ranges

You are affected if Visual Studio is installed and its version matches any of the vulnerable version ranges in CVE-2025-49739.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 15.9.75 / 16.11.49 / 17.8.23 or later
Fixed in 15.9.7516.11.4917.8.23
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security patches for Visual Studio when available. Restrict file system permissions to prevent untrusted users from creating symbolic links in directories accessed by Visual Studio, particularly in project and solution locations.

Recommended fix High confidence

Visual Studio 2022: 17.14.8 or later; Visual Studio 2019: 16.11.49 or later; Visual Studio 2017: 15.9.75 or later

  1. 1. Close all Visual Studio instances and any related processes
  2. 2. Verify your current Visual Studio version by opening Visual Studio and navigating to Help > About Microsoft Visual Studio
  3. 3. For Visual Studio 2022: Download and install version 17.14.8 or later from visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads
  4. 4. For Visual Studio 2019: Download and install version 16.11.49 or later from visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads
  5. 5. For Visual Studio 2017: Download and install version 15.9.75 or later from visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads
  6. 6. Restart Visual Studio after the update completes
  7. 7. Verify the installed version matches the fixed release by checking Help > About Microsoft Visual Studio
Caveat Upgrade within the same major version should be low-risk; ensure anyVSIX extensions are compatible with the new minor version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Visual Studio Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,240
Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-49739 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data