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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2020-16977 json

Visual Studio Code Python Extension Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

published 6y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2020-8934

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.4%
EPSS 3.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 88%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

<p>A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when the Python extension loads a Jupyter notebook file. 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.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a target to open a specially crafted file in Visual Studio Code with the Python extension installed.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code Python extension renders notebook content.</p>

Patch / fix

Is CVE-2020-16977 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Exploit prediction

3.35% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 88% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C
CNA 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 9.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

  • Microsoft Python extension for Visual Studio Code

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.