Potential Notepad++ CVE-2025-49144 Exploitation

calendar Apr 28, 2026 · attack.persistence attack.privilege-escalation attack.execution attack.stealth attack.t1574.008 cve.2025-49144 detection.emerging-threats  ·
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Detects potential exploitation of CVE-2025-49144, a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Notepad++ installers (v8.8.1 and prior) where the installer calls regsvr32.exe without specifying the full path. This allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges by placing a malicious regsvr32.exe alongside this Legitimate Notepad++ installer. The vulnerability is triggered when the installer attempts to register the NppShell.dll file, which is a component of Notepad++.

Sigma rule (View on GitHub)

 1title: Potential Notepad++ CVE-2025-49144 Exploitation
 2id: 933f0bb5-0681-4fe7-8a17-4e6cccbaac44
 3status: experimental
 4description: |
 5    Detects potential exploitation of CVE-2025-49144, a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Notepad++ installers (v8.8.1 and prior) where the installer calls regsvr32.exe without specifying the full path.
 6    This allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges by placing a malicious regsvr32.exe alongside this Legitimate Notepad++ installer.
 7    The vulnerability is triggered when the installer attempts to register the NppShell.dll file, which is a component of Notepad++.    
 8references:
 9    - https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2025-49144
10    - https://x.com/NullSecurityX/status/1937444064867029179
11author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
12date: 2025-06-26
13tags:
14    - attack.persistence
15    - attack.privilege-escalation
16    - attack.execution
17    - attack.stealth
18    - attack.t1574.008
19    - cve.2025-49144
20    - detection.emerging-threats
21logsource:
22    product: windows
23    category: process_creation
24detection:
25    selection:
26        Image|endswith: '\regsvr32.exe'
27        CommandLine|startswith: 'regsvr32 /s'
28        CommandLine|contains: '\contextMenu\NppShell.dll'
29    filter_main_legit_regsvr32:
30        Image:
31            - 'C:\Windows\System32\regsvr32.exe'
32            - 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\regsvr32.exe'
33    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
34falsepositives:
35    - Unknown
36level: high

References

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