Are Your VSCode Extensions Safe? The Risk We Don’t Talk About

#vscode #security #productivity #cybersecurity

Every developer I know has the same ritual:

Open VSCode.
Search for an extension that solves the problem at hand.
Click Install.

Done. Back to coding.

It feels harmless — almost routine. But every click gives someone else’s code permission to run inside your editor. And sometimes, that trust is misplaced.

The Quiet Problem with Extensions

VSCode extensions aren’t sandboxed little toys. They can:

Read and write files in your workspace.
Spawn background processes.
Send data over the network.

And the scary part? Even a “safe-looking” extension can turn risky overnight if the maintainer sells it or if a dependency gets compromised. Supply-chain attacks thrive in exactly these blind spots.

We’ve already seen examples where extensions with millions of downloads were caught doing shady things: crypto-mining, credential harvesting, injecting ads. Most of them looked legitimate until someone finally dug into the code.

Why We Rarely Notice

The VSCode Marketplace gives us stars, reviews, and download counts — but none of that says anything about what’s happening under the hood. A theme extension with ten lines of CSS might still request filesystem access. A linter might quietly collect telemetry.

And honestly, most of us never read the manifest or source before installing. We just trust the numbers.

Tools That Help Us See

That’s why security analyzers for extensions matter. VSCan is one example — it scans VSCode extensions and highlights things developers often miss:

Overly broad permissions.
Vulnerable or outdated dependencies.
Privacy or security concerns.

It generates a clear report so you can make an informed decision before hitting Install.

A Better Habit

We’ve normalized running npm audit or checking Docker images for CVEs. Why not treat our editor the same way?

Next time you’re about to install that shiny “Markdown Preview Ultra++” plugin, pause. Ask:

Does it really need the permissions it’s asking for?
Who maintains it, and how active is the repo?
Has anyone looked at its dependencies lately?

And if you want a quick head start, running it through a tool like VSCan takes seconds.

Closing Thought

The extensions we install aren’t just productivity boosters — they’re part of our attack surface. The sooner we treat them that way, the safer our workflows will be.

So maybe the next time you hit Install, don’t just look at the stars. Take a peek under the hood.

👉 Try scanning your extensions: vscan.dev