IDE extension official
Risk level
critical
100/100

OpenAI Codex for VS Code ↗

OpenAI Codex for VS Code is an officially published IDE extension from OpenAI. Anomity scores its risk at 100 out of 100 (critical). It matches 4 dangerous capability combinations.

filesystem:read filesystem:write shell:execute network:outbound credentials:access

Analysis summary

OpenAI Codex for VS Code is an officially published IDE extension from OpenAI. Anomity scores its risk at 100 out of 100 (critical). It matches 4 dangerous capability combinations.

OpenAI's Codex extension brings its coding agent into VS Code, letting a developer delegate a task, watch the agent work through it in the editor, and review the resulting diff — with the option to hand work off to a cloud-executed session.

Like any agentic extension it reads and writes the workspace, executes commands, calls the model service, and holds credentials. The cloud-execution path is the part that deserves specific attention in a review: work that runs remotely means repository contents are processed outside the developer's machine, which is a different data-flow answer than a purely local agent and one that a code-residency policy will have opinions about.

Why this entry scored 100 out of 100

This profile starts at the catalog's neutral base of 50. Because the entry is officially published, trust adjusts the score by -40. Declared high-risk capabilities add +30 (capped at +30). It matches 4 dangerous capability combinations, which contribute additional severity weight. The clamped result is 100, placing it in the critical band.

See the full scoring formula →

Findings

  • Published by the vendor Trust offset
    Contribution to score: -40
  • 3 high-risk capabilities: filesystem:write, shell:execute, credentials:access Critical
    Contribution to score: +30
  • Data exfiltration risk (high) High
    Evidence
    Shell execution combined with outbound network access can exfiltrate arbitrary data from the machine.
    Contribution to score: +15
  • Credential theft risk (high) High
    Evidence
    Filesystem write combined with credentials access can plant persistent credential stealers.
    Contribution to score: +15
  • Persistence + execution risk (medium) Medium
    Evidence
    Shell execution plus filesystem write means the agent can plant persistent backdoors (e.g. modifying startup scripts).
    Contribution to score: +5
  • Full-control risk (critical) Critical
    Evidence
    Shell + filesystem write + network is effectively a remote shell on the employee machine.
    Contribution to score: +25

Capabilities

Every capability the entry declares, with the security implication of each.

  • filesystem:read Filesystem read
    Can read files on the host system. Used for context, indexing, or analysis.
  • filesystem:write Filesystem write
    Can create, edit, or delete files on the host system. High-impact capability — anything from helpful edits to planting persistence.
  • shell:execute Shell execution
    Can run arbitrary shell commands. Combined with network access this becomes effectively a remote shell.
  • network:outbound Outbound network
    Can make outbound network requests. Required for hosted model providers and remote APIs; also the path for data exfiltration if combined with read access.
  • credentials:access Credentials access
    Reads provider API keys, OAuth tokens, or other secrets from the host keychain or environment.

Dangerous combinations matched

Capability pairings that compound into well-known attack patterns.

  • Data exfiltration risk high
    Shell execution combined with outbound network access can exfiltrate arbitrary data from the machine.
    shell:execute network:outbound
  • Credential theft risk high
    Filesystem write combined with credentials access can plant persistent credential stealers.
    filesystem:write credentials:access
  • Persistence + execution risk medium
    Shell execution plus filesystem write means the agent can plant persistent backdoors (e.g. modifying startup scripts).
    shell:execute filesystem:write
  • Full-control risk critical
    Shell + filesystem write + network is effectively a remote shell on the employee machine.
    shell:execute filesystem:write network:outbound