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Live PreviewApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2026-41612

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.4.19 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Relative path traversal in Visual Studio Code allows an unauthorized attacker to disclose information locally.

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

A relative path traversal vulnerability in Visual Studio Code permits an unauthorized local attacker to access files outside the intended scope by manipulating path references with directory traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../'). The flaw enables information disclosure of sensitive local files that the VS Code process has access to.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied security update for Visual Studio Code when released. Until then, restrict VS Code's access to sensitive directories and monitor for suspicious file access patterns.

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
Live PreviewApplication
Affected:< 0.4.19

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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. Verify Live Preview extension is installed
    Open VS Code, go to Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X), search for 'Live Preview' by Microsoft. Check if it appears in the installed extensions list.
    Affected if The Live Preview extension is installed and enabled in VS Code.
  2. Identify Live Preview version
    In VS Code Extensions view, click on the installed Live Preview extension to view its details. The version number is displayed on the extension information panel.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 0.4.19 (e.g., 0.4.18, 0.4.17, etc.).
  3. Confirm Live Preview server is active
    Start the Live Preview server by opening an HTML file and clicking 'Open with Live Preview' or using the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) to run 'Live Preview: Start Server'. Check if the preview server starts successfully.
    Affected if The Live Preview server starts and serves content, making the path traversal vulnerability accessible.
  4. Check for suspicious file access patterns
    Monitor VS Code process file operations using system tools (e.g., Process Monitor on Windows, lsof/auditd on Linux) while Live Preview is active. Look for access attempts to paths containing ../ sequences outside the workspace directory.
    Affected if File access attempts via Live Preview reach directories outside the intended workspace scope.

A user is affected if the Microsoft Live Preview extension is installed with a version lower than 0.4.19 and the Live Preview server feature is being used.

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 0.4.19 or later
Fixed in 0.4.19
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied security update for Visual Studio Code when released. Until then, restrict VS Code's access to sensitive directories and monitor for suspicious file access patterns.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Live Preview extension version 0.4.19 or later

  1. 1. Open Visual Studio Code
  2. 2. Navigate to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X)
  3. 3. Search for 'Live Preview' extension
  4. 4. Check the current installed version of the Live Preview extension
  5. 5. If version is lower than 0.4.19, click 'Update' to upgrade to the latest version
  6. 6. Alternatively, manually install version 0.4.19 or later from the Visual Studio Code marketplace
  7. 7. Restart Visual Studio Code after the update completes

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

Fix this in Live Preview Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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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-2026-41612 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