CVE-2019-1079 in Visual Studio
Summary
by MITRE
An information disclosure vulnerability exists when Visual Studio improperly parses XML input in certain settings files, aka 'Visual Studio Information Disclosure Vulnerability'.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/02/2020
The CVE-2019-1079 vulnerability represents a significant information disclosure flaw within Microsoft Visual Studio development environments. This weakness specifically manifests when the integrated development environment processes XML input within certain settings files, creating an avenue for unauthorized data exposure. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms that fail to properly sanitize or parse XML content, potentially allowing malicious actors to extract sensitive information from the development environment. The issue affects multiple versions of Visual Studio and poses particular risk to developers working with XML-based configuration files in their projects.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves improper XML parsing routines that do not adequately handle malformed or specially crafted XML input. When Visual Studio encounters certain XML structures within settings files, the parsing engine fails to validate the input properly, leading to information leakage through various channels. This flaw can be exploited by attackers who craft malicious XML content that, when processed by Visual Studio, reveals internal system information, configuration details, or potentially sensitive data stored within the development environment. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the XML processing capabilities of the Visual Studio IDE.
From an operational impact perspective, this information disclosure vulnerability creates substantial risk for development teams and organizations relying on Visual Studio for software development. Attackers who successfully exploit this vulnerability could gain access to sensitive configuration data, internal network information, or development environment specifics that could be leveraged for further attacks. The exposure of such information may enable adversaries to conduct more sophisticated penetration testing, identify potential attack vectors, or gather intelligence about the development infrastructure. Organizations using Visual Studio in enterprise environments face particular risk as the leaked information could include details about internal systems, development practices, or security configurations that should remain confidential.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which addresses "Improper Input Validation," and demonstrates how inadequate sanitization of user-supplied data can lead to information disclosure. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this weakness maps to techniques involving information gathering and reconnaissance activities, potentially enabling adversaries to progress through the cyber kill chain by first collecting intelligence about the target environment. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management processes to address this vulnerability, as Microsoft released security updates specifically targeting this issue. Additional mitigations include restricting file permissions for settings files, implementing network segmentation to limit access to development environments, and conducting regular security assessments of development tools and configurations to identify similar vulnerabilities in other software components.