CVE-2026-54525

High

Description

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.

SeverityHigh
CVSS8.8
Exploit probability—
ProductShd101wyy Vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced
PublishedOct 14, 2026
First seenOct 14, 2026

How to fix

Sources list no fixed version or patch link for this vulnerability.

Affected products

ProductAffected versionsFixed in
shd101wyy vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced< 0.8.28—

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CVE-2026-54525 · Shd101wyy Vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced · Dark Radar