Visual Studio Code Scanner

Visual Studio Code, commonly known as VS Code, is a free source-code editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Developers widely use it for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications. The software supports a wide array of programming languages and extensions, offering developers a customizable workspace. Integrated with debugging tools, it provides seamless functionality for software development projects. Due to its flexibility and rich features, VS Code has become a go-to tool for professionals across the software industry.

The detected vulnerability in this scan concerns the exposure of the .vscode/launch.json file. This file is utilized by Visual Studio Code for configuring debugging settings. If this file is publicly accessible, it may expose various sensitive data like local file paths, runtime arguments, environment variables, and potentially hardcoded credentials or access tokens. The exposure can lead to unauthorized access to developer environments and sensitive project configurations.

The vulnerable endpoint targeted by this detection relates to the accessibility of the .vscode/launch.json file. This file, when improperly secured, can be fetched using a simple HTTP GET request. The presence of specific words such as "version" and "configurations" confirms the exposure. Additionally, the Content-Type header must indicate application/json, and the server response status code should be 200 to validate this vulnerability.

When exploited, this vulnerability may result in unauthorized users accessing and potentially exploiting sensitive debugging configurations. They might retrieve local file paths and decode runtime environment variables, parameters that could guide subsequent attacks on related systems. Furthermore, hardcoded credentials or token information present in these files could lead to unauthorized access to APIs or sensitive internal resources.

REFERENCES

• https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/debugging