Security Resilience

CVE-2026-102231

Published
13 October 2026
Modified
13 October 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 7.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0038 30th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-102231 is a high-severity Improper Resolution of Path Equivalence (CWE-41) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Steganography (T1001.002); ranked at the 30th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Improper resolution of path equivalence in Visual Studio Code allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally.

CWE(s)
CWE-41

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
attack.mitre.org →
T1006 Direct Volume Access Stealth
Adversaries may directly access a volume to bypass file access controls and file system monitoring.
attack.mitre.org →
T1008 Fallback Channels Command And Control
Adversaries may use fallback or alternate communication channels if the primary channel is compromised or inaccessible in order to maintain reliable command and control and to avoid data transfer thresholds.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-0115Shared CWE-41
CVE-2023-36396Shared CWE-41
CVE-2025-21268Shared CWE-41
CVE-2026-50568Shared CWE-41
CVE-2025-24470Shared CWE-41
CVE-2026-5816Shared CWE-41
CVE-2026-72835Shared CWE-41
CVE-2025-21247Shared CWE-41
CVE-2025-21269Shared CWE-41
CVE-2025-43298Shared CWE-41

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Proper enforcement of file access authorizations structurally blocks disclosure when equivalent paths are presented.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation of file paths directly rejects or normalizes the special-character manipulations that create equivalent names.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.IR-01 partial match
blocks

Path-equivalence flaws enable unauthorized file access that network segmentation and logical access controls can partially block.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of improper path-resolution logic in software.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.19 Installation of software on operational systems partial match
removes
A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
blocks

Secure development lifecycle includes path-handling requirements that reduce equivalence-based disclosure.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
blocks

Application security requirements can mandate canonicalization and input validation to block path equivalence.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (least privilege, default-deny, distrust-external-input, security-oriented design reviews, hardening) that reach a minority slice of path-equivalence cases when applied to file-system or input-handling layers, but most CWE-41 instances arise from un-reviewed custom path canonicalization logic that the clause does not itself eliminate or block from exploitation.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly require canonical path resolution and input sanitization to prevent equivalence attacks.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance partial match
finds

Security testing can detect path-equivalence flaws before release, partially fulfilling the control.

References