😈🗡️ Villain of the Week 🗡️😈 – via Vicarius
A high-severity vulnerability, CVE-2025-49144, has been identified in Notepad++, a widely-used open-source text editor. This flaw allows attackers to achieve privilege escalation by abusing the installer’s insecure search path behavior—potentially executing malicious LOLBins (Living-off-the-Land Binaries) like regsvr32.exe from user-writable directories.
📌 Why it matters:
Exploiting this vulnerability could result in:
– Execution of malicious binaries with SYSTEM-level privileges.
– Complete compromise of affected Windows machines during software installation.
📋 Recommended actions:
– Update Notepad++: Upgrade to version 8.8.2 or later to patch this vulnerability.
– Verify download integrity: Always download Notepad++ from the official website and validate the GPG signatures of the installer when available.
👨🔬 Use these scripts from the wolfpack research team:
– Detection: https://lnkd.in/gV_Rtakv
– Remediation: https://lnkd.in/gHwCKwtZ
Let us know if you need help securing your systems or understanding these steps further.
