Threat Intelligence / CVE / CVE-2026-48778

CVE-2026-48778

CVSS v3.1 7.8 (HIGH) · EPSS 0.0% (higher than 5.7% of all scored CVEs) · Priority 4.1/10

As of 2026-09-13, CVE-2026-48778 is a HIGH-severity vulnerability, CVSS v3.1 7.8, EPSS 0.0% (5.7th percentile). Threadlinqs Intelligence links 1 tracked threat campaign to CVE-2026-48778, most recently “Notepad++ v8.9.6 — Critical Arbitrary Code Execution via config.xml commandLineInterpreter and shortcuts.xml (CVE-2026-48770, CVE-2026-48778, CVE-2026-48800)”.

Last updated: 2026-09-13

What is CVE-2026-48778?

Notepad++ (versions up to and including v8.9.6) fails to validate the commandLineInterpreter setting stored in its config.xml configuration file. The value of the tag is read and stored without any validation, allow-list, or digital-signature check. When a user triggers the "File -> Open Containing Folder -> cmd" action, Notepad++ passes the attacker-controlled string directly to ShellExecute(), executing whatever interpreter/executable the attacker specified. An attacker who can modify config.xml -- for example via direct file-system access to the user's AppData directory, malicious shortcuts using the -settingsDir parameter, cloud-sync poisoning, or tricking the user into extracting a crafted archive -- can therefore achieve arbitrary code execution. A proof-of-concept replacing the tag value with calc.exe causes Windows Calculator to launch in place of the command prompt, confirming code execution. The issue was fixed in Notepad++ v8.9.6.1.

The record classifies CVE-2026-48778 under weakness class CWE-78. Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw requires local access to the host, needs no prior authentication, needs a user to take an action first, and has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability.

Severity and exploitation probability

CVSS v3.1 base score: 7.8 — HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS (FIRST): 0.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5.7% of all scored CVEs
CISA KEV: Not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Threadlinqs priority: 4.1/10 — a Threadlinqs composite of the CVSS base score, the EPSS percentile and public exploit availability

Is CVE-2026-48778 being exploited?

It currently carries a trending score of 6 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.

Affected products and versions

No affected-product or package list has been recorded for CVE-2026-48778 in the tracked sources. The vendor advisory and the references below are the authoritative statement of what is affected.

How to fix CVE-2026-48778

No vendor patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-48778 in the tracked sources. Follow the references below for a fix, and treat any affected deployment as exposed until the vendor states otherwise.

Threat activity tracking CVE-2026-48778

1 tracked threat in the Threadlinqs corpus references CVE-2026-48778, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.

Notepad++ v8.9.6 — Critical Arbitrary Code Execution via config.xml commandLineInterpreter and shortcuts.xml (CVE-2026-48770, CVE-2026-48778, CVE-2026-48800) — CRITICAL · 2026-05-28

Sources

Seeded from research_verified and not yet processed by the Threadlinqs enrichment pipeline, so blank CVSS, EPSS or KEV fields above mean NOT MEASURED rather than measured-absent.

Full detection coverage & IOCs for threats exploiting CVE-2026-48778 are available via the Threadlinqs MCP server (Purple tier). View plans →

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