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.netApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2026-50526

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.0.29 / 9.0.18 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click 5 weeks old

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 .NET allows an authorized attacker to perform tampering locally.

In the news

Third-party coverage
Trending covered by 1 outlet this week · latest 1mo ago

Surfaced from public web coverage — external links open in a new tab.

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

This is a link following (symlink) vulnerability in .NET where the runtime or applications don't properly resolve symbolic links before file access. An authorized local attacker could exploit this by creating or manipulating symlinks to access or tamper with files they wouldn't normally have access to.

MitigationImplement proper path canonicalization and symlink validation before file operations; use secure file access APIs that resolve all path components and validate that the final resolved path is within expected boundaries.

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
.netApplication
Affected:>= 8.0.0, < 8.0.29>= 9.0.0, < 9.0.18>= 10.0.0, < 10.0.6
Visual Studio 2022Application
Affected:>= 17.12.0, < 17.12.22>= 17.14.0, < 17.14.36
Visual Studio 2026Application
Affected:>= 18.7.0, < 18.7.4

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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. Check .NET SDK version
    Run 'dotnet --version' to get the SDK version, or 'dotnet --list-runtimes' to list installed runtimes with their full version numbers
    Affected if The version falls within >= 8.0.0 and < 8.0.29, OR >= 9.0.0 and < 9.0.18, OR >= 10.0.0 and < 10.0.6
  2. Check Visual Studio 2022 version
    Open Visual Studio 2022, go to Help > About Microsoft Visual Studio, and note the version number (e.g., 17.12.x)
    Affected if The version is >= 17.12.0 and < 17.12.22, OR >= 17.14.0 and < 17.14.36
  3. Check Visual Studio 2026 version
    Open Visual Studio 2026, go to Help > About Microsoft Visual Studio, and note the version number (e.g., 18.7.x)
    Affected if The version is >= 18.7.0 and < 18.7.4
  4. Identify .NET-based applications with file operations
    Review your deployed applications or services that use .NET and perform file I/O operations (file creation, reading, writing, or path resolution)
    Affected if Any application using the affected .NET versions performs file access operations that could encounter symlinks in user-writable directories

You are affected if you have .NET 8.0.0-8.0.28, 9.0.0-9.0.17, or 10.0.0-10.0.5 installed; or Visual Studio 2022 versions 17.12.0-17.12.21 or 17.14.0-17.14.35; or Visual Studio 2026 versions 18.7.0-18.7.3 installed, and those installations are used for applications performing file operations.

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 8.0.29 / 9.0.18 / 10.0.6 or later
Fixed in 8.0.299.0.1810.0.6
Interim mitigation

Implement proper path canonicalization and symlink validation before file operations; use secure file access APIs that resolve all path components and validate that the final resolved path is within expected boundaries.

Recommended fix High confidence

.NET 8.0.29+/9.0.18+/10.0.6+ (LTS: 8.0.29 recommended); VS2022 17.12.22+/17.14.36+; VS2026 18.7.4+

  1. Identify which .NET version (8.x, 9.x, or 10.x) is in use by running 'dotnet --version'
  2. For .NET 8.x applications: Update the .NET runtime to version 8.0.29 or later, and the SDK to 8.0.400 or later
  3. For .NET 9.x applications: Update the .NET runtime to version 9.0.18 or later, and the SDK to 9.0.300 or later
  4. For .NET 10.x applications: Update the .NET runtime to version 10.0.6 or later, and the SDK to 10.0.400 or later
  5. If using Visual Studio 2022, update to version 17.12.22 or later, or 17.14.36 or later
  6. If using Visual Studio 2026, update to version 18.7.4 or later
  7. Rebuild and redeploy applications to ensure the updated runtime is used
Caveat Standard minor/patch updates typically have minimal breaking changes; review release notes for any behavior changes in the specific minor version

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

Fix this in .net Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2026-50526 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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