Disclosed weakness · no CVE recorded

EMBRACE: VS Code preview worker bypasses project file restrictions

Microsoft · VS Code integrated browser

First documented disclosure · Review checkpoint

Summary

A worker in a local preview can read outside the project.

Severity and exploitation evidence

Unknown · numeric CVSS score not recorded. Severity source.

Exploitation not established: Controlled researcher demonstration; malicious exploitation is not established.

Exploitation evidence source

Technical severity is not a measure of observed attacks or of risk to your deployment. Attempts, demonstrations, and successful compromise retain the qualifications in the source.

How the weakness works

Project-scope restrictions applied to the top document do not apply to worker file fetches.

Conditions required

A user trusts and opens attacker-controlled local content in the integrated browser; target files must be readable by the process.

Potential impact

Local credential and document disclosure in controlled tests; remote victim theft is not established.

Affected versions and configurations

Researcher-tested build; numeric range not published.

Fix and mitigation status

No fix verified; Microsoft declined the report under Workspace Trust, according to Forever.

Practical next steps

Keep untrusted projects restricted and use isolated preview environments without sensitive files.

Operating lesson

Apply file-access restrictions to workers as well as top-level renderers.

Evidence and limits

Private report September 10, public October 29. The researcher and vendor disagree on the trust boundary; this entry preserves that dispute and does not assert a CVE or universal VS Code exposure.

Related incident and research records

Related records can include laboratory demonstrations; a relationship does not itself establish exploitation.

Sources