CVE-2026-46710

Severity CVSS v4.0:

HIGH

Type:

CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path

Publication date:

26/06/2026

Last modified:

29/06/2026

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.

Impact

Vector 4.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N CVSS v4.0 Severity and Metrics:

Base Score: 7.50 HIGH
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector (AV): Local
Attack Complexity (AC): High
Attack Requirements (AT): None
Privileges Required (PR): None
User Interaction (UI): None
Confidentiality (VC): High
Integrity (VI): High
Availability (VA): High
Confidentiality (SC): None
Integrity (SI): None
Availability (SA): None

Base Score 4.0

7.50

Severity 4.0

HIGH

Vector 3.x

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CVSS v3.1 Severity and Metrics:

Base Score: 7.80 HIGH
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector (AV): Local
Attack Complexity (AC): Low
Privileges Required (PR): None
User Interaction (UI): Required
Scope (S): Unchanged
Confidentiality (C): High
Integrity (I): High
Availability (A): High