CVE-2026-54525Markdown Preview Enhanced: One Click RCE via Markdown Link Command Injection on Windows
Updated under an hour ago ()
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It affects shd101wyy vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced. Add what you run to find out whether that includes you.
EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.43%, higher than 36% of scored CVEs.
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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.
- CVSS
- 8.8 HIGH (v3.1, CNA)CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-78
- Known exploited
- Not in CISA's KEV catalog
- EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days)
- 0.43% (percentile 36)
- Assigned by
- GitHub_M
- NVD analysis
- Awaiting Analysis
- Record last updated
- Oct 15, 2026
- First seen by InfoSec Signals
- Oct 14, 2026
Affected products
shd101wyy vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced shd101wyy:vscode_markdown_preview_enhanced (from the name) | before 0.8.28 | CNA record |
References
- https://github.com/shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced/security/advisories/GHSA-7v6f-3vq6-r373x-refsource-confirm
- https://github.com/shd101wyy/crossnote/pull/442x-refsource-misc
- https://github.com/shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced/pull/2318x-refsource-misc
- https://github.com/shd101wyy/crossnote/commit/5588ca2121c3da43fe331575dc5cf4ef347b91eex-refsource-misc
- https://github.com/shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced/commit/dcd80281c986293b93d9f1af34ced64dcb230c77x-refsource-misc
- https://github.com/shd101wyy/crossnote/releases/tag/0.9.29x-refsource-misc
- https://github.com/shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced/releases/tag/0.8.28x-refsource-misc
The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry
The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.