CVE-2025-21206: Visual Studio Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Severity: high (CVSS 7.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-02-11 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-427

Description

Visual Studio Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Affected products

Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 (includes 15.0 - 15.8): from 15.0 before 15.9.70 — fixed in 15.9.70
Microsoft Visual Studio 2019: from 16.0 before 16.11.44 — fixed in 16.11.44
Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14: from 17.8 before 17.8.18; from 17.10 before 17.10.11; from 17.12 before 17.12.5 — fixed in 17.10.11, 17.12.5, 17.8.18
Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.11 (includes 16.0 - 16.10): from 16.11.0 before 16.11.44 — fixed in 16.11.44
Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.10: from 17.10.0 before 17.10.11 — fixed in 17.10.11
Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.8: from 17.8.0 before 17.8.18 — fixed in 17.8.18
Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 (includes 15.0 - 15.8): from 15.9.0 before 15.9.70 — fixed in 15.9.70
Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14: from 17.12.0 before 17.12.5 — fixed in 17.12.5

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 (includes 15.0 - 15.8) 15.9.70; Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 16.11.44; Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14 17.10.11, 17.12.5, 17.8.18; Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.11 (includes 16.0 - 16.10) 16.11.44; Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.10 17.10.11; Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.8 17.8.18; Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 (includes 15.0 - 15.8) 15.9.70; Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14 17.12.5. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21206

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