CVE-2025-29803: Visual Studio Tools for Applications and SQL Server Management Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Severity: high (CVSS 7.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-04-12 · updated 2026-08-10
Weakness: CWE-427

Description

Uncontrolled search path element in Visual Studio Tools for Applications and SQL Server Management Studio allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Affected products

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio: before 20.2.1 — fixed in 20.2.1
Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2019: before 16.0.35907.0 — fixed in 16.0.35907.0
Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2019 Sdk: before 16.0.35907.0 — fixed in 16.0.35907.0
Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2022: before 17.0.35906.0 — fixed in 17.0.35906.0
Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2022 Sdk: before 17.0.35906.0 — fixed in 17.0.35906.0
Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 20.2: from 20.0 before 20.2.37.0 — fixed in 20.2.37.0
Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA): from 16.0 before 16.0.35907.0 — fixed in 16.0.35907.0
Microsoft VSTA 2019 SDK: from 16.0 before 16.0.35907.0 — fixed in 16.0.35907.0
Microsoft VSTA 2022 SDK: from 17.0 before 17.0.35906.0 — fixed in 17.0.35906.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 20.2.1; Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2019 16.0.35907.0; Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2019 Sdk 16.0.35907.0; Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2022 17.0.35906.0; Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Applications 2022 Sdk 17.0.35906.0; Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 20.2 20.2.37.0; Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) 16.0.35907.0; Microsoft VSTA 2019 SDK 16.0.35907.0; Microsoft VSTA 2022 SDK 17.0.35906.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-29803

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