Notepad++: Privilege Escalation in the Installer via Uncontrolled Executable Search Path

{
  "id": "b971fb9b8a3d564c4daa18cdf1b0be257380dec1005cc2aa05e1ce6bd112d37a",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46710",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Notepad++: Privilege Escalation in the Installer via Uncontrolled Executable Search Path",
    "summary": "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.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-46710",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "high",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2026-46710",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2026-46710",
        "GHSA-6f8f-vmfc-r8c5"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V4",
          "score": "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"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "b9e5673e462f667cf266bf1e77a4dc641a5810a9"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "e66cf316ab5ef6c62ccc9c85e0872f6a4d2bfbad"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "1d4aabe2102d982667ead2dd974bee5e0b1f2d9c"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:notepad-plus-plus:notepad\\+\\+:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "8.9.4"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "8.9.6"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "1d4aabe2102d982667ead2dd974bee5e0b1f2d9c"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "v8.9.5",
            "v8.9.4"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-46710.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:48.780469467Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/46xxx/CVE-2026-46710.json",
        "https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/security/advisories/GHSA-6f8f-vmfc-r8c5",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46710",
        "https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/commit/1d4aabe2102d982667ead2dd974bee5e0b1f2d9c"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-426"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/46xxx/CVE-2026-46710.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2026-46710",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 516900,
  "published_at": "2026-06-26T20:16:16.022+00:00"
}