CVE-2023-40166 — Notepad++ heap buffer read overflow in FileManager::detectLanguageFromTextBegining

Notepad++ is a free and open-source source code editor. Versions 8.5.6 and prior are vulnerable to heap buffer read overflow in `FileManager::detectLanguageFromTextBegining `. The exploitability of this issue is not clear. Potentially, it may be used to leak internal memory allocation information. As of time of publication, no known patches are available in existing versions of Notepad++.

Published Aug 25, 2023Updated Oct 2, 2024Sources: cvelistV5, GitHub_M

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Unreported

no source claims exploitation

EPSS

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Affects

notepad plus plus

notepad_plus_plus

CVSS base

5.5

MEDIUM

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

PoC

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Affected scope

The catalog records vendors and products as separate lists, not pairs, so which product belongs to which vendor is not something this page can say.

Vendors (1)

notepad plus plus

Products (1)

notepad plus plus

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
5.5	CVSS 3.1	MEDIUM	—	—	cvelistV5

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-120
CWE-122

References

1 on the record

securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2023-092_Notepad__/
x_refsource_CONFIRM

Elsewhere on this site

notepad plus plusevery CVE for this vendor
CWE-120other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.