VULNERABILITY INTELLIGENCE

CVE-2026-46710

CVSS score7.8 HIGH
EPSS probability0.15%
CISA KEVNot currently listed
Published2026-06-26
Last modified2026-06-29
CVSS vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

Weakness classification

  • security-advisories@github.com: CWE-426

Primary references