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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2020-16977

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2020-10-16

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

<p>A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when the Python extension loads a Jupyter notebook file. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a target to open a specially crafted file in Visual Studio Code with the Python extension installed.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code Python extension renders notebook content.</p>

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2020-10-1623:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-16977?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-16977?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Microsoft visual studio code
BranchAffectedFixed in
—all versionsno fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • CNACVSS 3.17read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 3.17.8read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.09.3read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score3.4 %2026-10-23

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2020-10-16
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-16977?

<p>A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio Code when the Python extension loads a Jupyter notebook file. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a target to open a specially crafted file in Visual Studio Code with the Python extension installed.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by modifying the way Visual Studio Code Python extension renders notebook content.</p>

Is CVE-2020-16977 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2020-16977 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 3.4% on 2026-10-23, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-16977?

CVE-2020-16977 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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