Description

Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. From 8.9.4 until 8.9.6, Notepad++ contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the installer. During installation, the installer invokes powershell.exe without using an absolute path after setting the working directory to the installation contextMenu directory. If an attacker can pre-place a malicious powershell.exe in a user-writable custom installation directory, and a privileged user later runs the installer and selects that directory, the attacker-controlled executable is launched with the elevated privileges of the installer. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.9.6.

Severity (CVSS)

Base score7.5
SeverityHigh
VersionCVSS 4.0
VectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Provided byCNA

Weaknesses

  • CWE-426 — CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path

Affected products

VendorProductVersions
notepad-plus-plusnotepad-plus-plus>= 8.9.4, < 8.9.6

References

Authoritative sources

This page is a snapshot. For the latest enrichment and updates, view the record on CVE.org or the NVD.

Generated from the official CVE List on 27 Jun 2026 07:02 UTC.