Is CVE-2026-85288 being exploited?

No public exploit is currently tracked.

How severe is CVE-2026-85288?

CVE-2026-85288 has a CVSS v3 severity of MEDIUM (6.7).

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CVE-2026-85288

Description

Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. Prior to 8.9.8, Notepad++ incompletely enforces shortcuts.xml HMAC validation because WM_MACRODLGRUNMACRO, the Run a Macro Multiple Times entry point, calls macroPlayback() without the validation used by command(). A tampered shortcuts.xml macro that is blocked through the Macro menu or a shortcut key can therefore execute through the multi-run dialog and invoke internal Notepad++ commands, including commands that launch external programs, in the current user context. This issue is fixed in version 8.9.8.