Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. In versions 8.8.1 and prior, a privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the Notepad++ v8.8.1 installer that allows unprivileged users to gain SYSTEM-level privileges through insecure executable search paths. An attacker could use social engineering or clickjacking to trick users into downloading both the legitimate installer and a malicious executable to the same directory (typically Downloads folder - which is known as Vulnerable directory). Upon running the installer, the attack executes automatically with SYSTEM privileges. This issue has been fixed and will be released in version 8.8.2.
{
"cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-272",
"CWE-276",
"CWE-427"
],
"osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/49xxx/CVE-2025-49144.json"
}{
"extracted_events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "8.8.2"
}
],
"source": [
"AFFECTED_FIELD",
"REFERENCES"
]
}