The developer of the popular open source text editor Notepad++ has confirmed that hackers hijacked the software to deliver malicious updates to users over the course of several months in 2025.
In a blog post published Monday, Notepad++ developer Don Ho said that the cyberattack was likely carried out by hackers associated with the Chinese government between June and December 2025, citing multiple analyses by security experts who examined the malware payloads and attack patterns. Ho said this “would explain the highly selective targeting” seen during the campaign.
Anyone know if this affected updates through winget?
Last I checked the source of the winget package was github, which is the same on the official website. So I would imagine that updating via Winget is just as vulnerable. The details are super vague.
Edit: Somebody else commented that it was only auto-update that was compromised, and winget would be considered a manual update because it download from their github. So I think winget may be safe.
Dont quote me on that though, the information is still super vague and I am going off of somebody else’s comment.
Good thing I always ignore notepad++ updates. I mean, good on the devs for active development, but having a user-intervention-required update option every time I launch? Feels clunky.
You would prefer it automatically pull down and install malware?
I mean, isn’t that what Windows does anyway?
I’d obviously prefer Notepad++ didn’t auto-install malware. Steam and Discord force auto-updates on every launch and do so without user intervention. I haven’t knowingly been burned by either yet, but they’re bigger players with more resources than Notepad++.
Well this sucks
From their blog post, it seems the software itself and its code was unaffected, but the attack was only on the website?
Fuck.
Anyone have an open source alternate that has commensurate features as N++
Getting increasingly paranoid about the software I allow on my devices and now that I have a self-hosted LLM, I can feed it the source code and cross-reference it on 5Gb of CVE databases I’ve trained it on to ensure sanitary code.
Kate.
Just to be clear, N++ wasn’t compromised, the shared web host running the auto update infrastructure was. They responsibly disclosed it and shared safety steps. I don’t know if it is time to bail on them yet.
Sounds like manual updates were fine?
Yes, that’s the current consensus. Only the auto-update infrastructure was compromised, and it was a shared hosting compromise.
I already hated it, now I uninstalled it, thank you
Kinda weird you had ‘already hated’ software installed in the first place…
I really don’ remember why i downloaded it. Generally when I first get my PC, I install programs like Sublime, Notepad++, vs code etc. I use Sublime for most of the tasks and it gets bloated, so I sometimes use Notepad++. I wasnt using for the last months. So I uninstalled it. The Json plugin was better than Sublime as far as I remember, maybe that’s why I installed it.
So you install software you already hate first chance you get to new PCs?
Yes. Because i sometimes need it. I hate Windows too dude, but I have to use it, because my company requires it.
Kinda weird.
You are welcome!
