COMpromise: remote code execution in Windows development environments | Stan Hegt | NULLCON Goa 2020

This talk demonstrates how compiling, reverse engineering, or even simply viewing source code can compromise a developer's workstation. With the rise of code sharing platforms like GitHub, downloading and scrutinizing potentially untrusted code has become common, but this practice can be exploited by attackers due to the interactions between integrated development environments for Windows and the Component Object Model (COM). The speaker presents comprehensive and practical exploit chains for Visual Studio, illustrating that merely opening code can pose significant risks. The session delves into COM, type libraries, and the intricate inner workings of Visual Studio, revealing critical insights for developers.