this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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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.

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[–] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Traffic from certain targeted users was selectively redirected to attacker-controlled malicious update manifests.

I don't want to sound dismissive, but at the same time, if you're wondering, "Does this affect me and my computer?" the answer is almost certainly "no." It's scary anyway.

I would have guessed NPP had an option to disable check-for-updates every time it starts, but I couldn't find one.

[–] Hobo@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Yeah it does. It's in Preferences > Misc. There's a dropdown to disable automatic updates.

[–] Codilingus@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Anyone know if this affected updates through winget?

[–] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

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.

[–] officermike@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 6 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

You would prefer it automatically pull down and install malware?

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I think they want them to reduce the release frequency.

[–] whereIsTamara@lemmy.org 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Software should have version notification settings like, All, Security Only, Major Release, etc.

While I enjoy staying current, I don’t need the 2.1.3.2.1.000000023 release where someone fixes a minor bug in a niche feature that I have never used to begin with.

[–] officermike@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

I'd love that. Some things I'm willing to be on beta release. Some things I just want to be invisible and silent unless there's a security problem.

[–] officermike@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

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++.

[–] REDACTED@infosec.pub 21 points 1 day ago

Well this sucks

[–] mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 23 hours ago

From their blog post, it seems the software itself and its code was unaffected, but the attack was only on the website?

[–] BaroqueInMind@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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.

[–] surfrock66@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds like manual updates were fine?

[–] surfrock66@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

Yes, that's the current consensus. Only the auto-update infrastructure was compromised, and it was a shared hosting compromise.

[–] muse@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Some options are atom, brackets/phoenix, lime text. I went with gVim for now.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Atom's final release was in 2022.

[–] muse@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 37 minutes ago

I just found out it was acquired and buried to promote VS Code. That's awful.