Notepad++ TOCTOU: HMAC Checks Disk, Executes from Memory_CVE-2026-52885

7.5 / 10

HIGH

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

Description

Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. Prior to 8.9.6.4, NppCommands.cpp checks the HMAC of the on-disk shortcuts.xml at the moment a user command fires (Time-of-Check). However, the command payload is taken from the in-memory _userCommands vector, which is populated at application startup and never re-synchronized with the on-disk file (Time-of-Use). Swapping shortcuts.xml between startup and command execution causes the HMAC check to validate a clean file while a malicious command runs. An attacker with write access to shortcuts.xml places a malicious version on disk before launch, then immediately restores the legitimate file. The HMAC check at execution time validates the restored legitimate file (check passes), while the malicious payload executes from memory. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.9.6.4.

Basic Information

ID CVE-2026-52885

Source GitHub_M

Published Jun 26, 2026 at 20:19

Affected Product

Vendor notepad-plus-plus

Product notepad-plus-plus

Version < 8.9.6.4

Affected Versions notepad-plus-plus notepad-plus-plus < 8.9.6.4

CWE Classification

CWE-367

References

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    "published": "2026-06-26T20:19:04.456Z",
    "modified": "2026-06-26T20:19:04.456Z",
    "type": "cve",
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