What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-77605: Notepad++ “Run by system” executes *.txt.cmd when user selected *.txt (target confusion → command execution)

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-09-22 · updated 2026-09-28
• Weakness: CWE-20

Description

Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. Prior to 8.9.8, the Folder as Workspace Run by system action in Notepad++ can resolve a different sibling file than the file selected by the user. When an attacker places a command script whose name is the selected text-file path with .cmd appended, and the user invokes Run by system on the text file on Windows 10 or Windows 11, Notepad++ can execute the sibling script as the current user instead of opening the selected file. This issue is fixed in version 8.9.8.

Affected products

• notepad-plus-plus: before 8.9.8

References

• https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/commit/00fa5df0da1d4f6b334317aa979db13ac77ee24d
• https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/releases/tag/v8.9.8
• https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/security/advisories/GHSA-w5xq-frjg-w4cw
• https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v898-released
• https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/security/advisories/GHSA-w5xq-frjg-w4cw

Get alerted when CVE-2026-77605 or the next vulnerability affects your stack