CVE-2026-85279
8.6 HIGHpublic exploit availablePublished 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-09-23
AI risk analysis
- Summary
- The flaw is a stack buffer overflow in Notepad++ due to improper handling of plugin-supplied lexers, allowing arbitrary code execution. This matters because it can lead to full compromise of the Notepad++ process context.
- Exploitability
- Exploitation is moderately hard requiring a malicious or compromised plugin that reports more than 30 lexers. Precondition is the user must have the affected version of Notepad++ installed.
- Blast radius
- If exploited, the impact is high as it can permit arbitrary code execution within the Notepad++ process context, potentially leading to full system compromise.
- Detection
- No reliable host or network indicator is derivable from the published description.
- Prioritized remediation
- Upgrade to Notepad++ version 8.9.8 or later.
Analysis generated locally by qwen2.5:7b-instruct (no data left the box). AI-assisted — verify against primary sources before acting.
NVD description
Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. Prior to 8.9.8, Notepad++ contains a stack buffer overflow in PluginsManager::loadPluginFromPath in PowerEditor/src/MISC/PluginsManager/PluginsManager.cpp because the plugin-supplied GetLexerCount() result controls a loop that writes to containers[30] without enforcing NB_MAX_EXTERNAL_LANG. A malicious or compromised plugin that reports more than 30 lexers can write beyond the stack array and corrupt control data, which can permit arbitrary code execution in the Notepad++ process context. This issue is fixed in version 8.9.8.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weaknesses
CWE-121
Public exploit & PoC references
- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/commit/70b88f95311d88523cde6be1b1ec938aa48c24bc
- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/commit/f1e1c71b090d69ca0f0175ab73895da41db67a16
- 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-h2wq-6x75-h8q2
- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/security/advisories/GHSA-h2wq-6x75-h8q2
All references
- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/commit/70b88f95311d88523cde6be1b1ec938aa48c24bc
- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/commit/f1e1c71b090d69ca0f0175ab73895da41db67a16
- 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-h2wq-6x75-h8q2
- https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v898-released
- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/security/advisories/GHSA-h2wq-6x75-h8q2
Source data: NVD (nvd.nist.gov), public domain. Exploit-DB.ai adds local AI analysis for defensive use only.
Related CVEs
- CRITICALCVE-2017-20242
- CRITICALCVE-2026-101037PoC
- CRITICALCVE-2026-101038PoC
- CRITICALCVE-2026-101039PoC
- CRITICALCVE-2026-101074PoC
- CRITICALCVE-2026-101081PoC
- CRITICALCVE-2026-101354PoC
- HIGHCVE-2026-18895PoC
Related by shared AI tags and CWE weakness class. Browse the full archive.