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.
CVSS breakdown
CVSS 4.0
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
High
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality (Vulnerable System)
High
Integrity (Vulnerable System)
High
Availability (Vulnerable System)
High
Confidentiality (Subsequent System)
None
Integrity (Subsequent System)
None
Availability (Subsequent System)
None
Affected products
- notepad-plus-plus / notepad-plus-plus>= 8.9.4, < 8.9.6 – >= 8.9.4, < 8.9.6