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.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-49144 is rated Moderate Risk (41.2/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.42%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-06-15 | 0.10% | 0.42% | +0.32% |
| 2 | 2026-04-19 | 0.01% | 0.10% | +0.09% |
| 3 | 2025-06-24 | — | 0.01% | — |
Full EPSS history (3 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.3 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.3 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| No affected products in dataset. | |||