Markdown Preview Enhanced is a Markdown preview extension for Visual Studio Code. Prior to 0.8.28, Markdown Preview Enhanced preview-link handling passes a decoded, Markdown-controlled link target to a Windows file-opening helper that invokes child_process.exec with the start command. When a Windows user opens an untrusted Markdown file and clicks a crafted external or unsupported-scheme link, shell metacharacters in the decoded target are interpreted by cmd.exe as command separators, allowing an attacker-selected command to run with the privileges of the current VS Code user. The attack requires one normal preview-link click but does not require malicious workspace configuration, script execution to be enabled, or additional files. This issue is fixed in version 0.8.28.
References
Configurations
No configuration.
History
14 Oct 2026, 19:17
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| New CVE |
Information
Published : 2026-10-14 19:17
Updated : 2026-10-16 16:00
NVD link : CVE-2026-54525
Mitre link : CVE-2026-54525
CVE.ORG link : CVE-2026-54525
JSON object : View
Products Affected
No product.
CWE
CWE-78
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
