CVE-2025-49739: 
vulnerability analysis and mitigation

A vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-49739 was discovered in Microsoft Visual Studio, affecting multiple versions including Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, 2017, 2019, and 2022. The vulnerability was disclosed on July 8, 2025, and involves improper link resolution before file access ('link following') that could allow an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network (NVD, AttackerKB).

The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (HIGH), with the following vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. This indicates that the vulnerability can be exploited over the network, requires low attack complexity, needs no privileges, but does require user interaction. The impact potential is high across confidentiality, integrity, and availability (AttackerKB).

If successfully exploited, this vulnerability allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network, potentially gaining high-level access to affected systems. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system with high severity ratings across all three aspects (NVD).

Microsoft has released security updates to address this vulnerability. For Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, users should install KB5063035. The update requires both Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and the Cumulative Servicing Release KB 3165756 to be installed. Users are recommended to close Visual Studio before installing the security update (Microsoft Support).