Is CVE-2026-85995 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-85995 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-85995?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.3, published 22 September 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Notepad++ Notepad++ 8.9.7 to 8.9.8.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-85995?

A patch was published on 2026-08-23: Fix released in version 8.9.8 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-85995 attacked?

It is attacked with local access, in a web application.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-85995?

Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-85995: Notepad++ Authenticode signature verification bypass

CVE-2026-85995 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.3 · Published 2026-09-22

Notepad++ is a text editor used by developers worldwide. An attacker who can locally modify or replace the updater file can trick Notepad++ into running malicious code when a user checks for updates. This requires local file access and user action to trigger, but can lead to code execution on the developer's machine.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-85995 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-85995 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-85995?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.3, published 22 September 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Notepad++ Notepad++ 8.9.7 to 8.9.8.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-85995?: A patch was published on 2026-08-23: Fix released in version 8.9.8 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-85995 attacked?: It is attacked with local access, in a web application.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-85995?: Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

The updater signature verification in Notepad++ versions 8.9.7 through 8.9.8 fails to properly validate the Authenticode digest of the GUP.exe executable, accepting modified binaries that retain valid certificate metadata. An attacker with local file system access can replace the updater executable with a malicious variant, which will be executed when the user triggers the automatic update check. This was patched in version 8.9.8.

Affected products

Notepad++ Notepad++ 8.9.7 to 8.9.8

Timeline

2026-09-22: disclosed
2026-08-23: patched: Fix released in version 8.9.8

References

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