CVE-2026-38972

HIGHPre-NVD 7.87.8—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-07-02. CISA-ADP (Vulnrichment) CVSS v3.1 baseline 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: cisa-adp, epss, ghsa
Trending — 3 sources updated this weekElevated
7.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

Notepad3 through 6.25.822.1 contains a DLL search-order hijacking vulnerability in the About-dialog code path in src/Notepad3.c. The application calls LoadLibrary(L"MSFTEDIT.DLL") with a bare DLL name, which allows a local attacker to place a malicious MSFTEDIT.DLL in the application directory or another preferred DLL search location and achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the user when the About dialog is opened.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(high)
EG Risk
51(Track*)
EG Risk 51/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
8%
KEV
Not listed

Published

July 2, 2026

Last Modified

July 8, 2026

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Jul 6, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github_pr.
generic

GitHub - rizonesoft/Notepad3: Notepad like text editor based on the Scintilla source code. Notepad3 based on code from Notepad2 and MiniPath on code from metapath. Download Notepad3: · GitHub

https://github.com/rizonesoft/Notepad3
generic

[BUG] Notepad3 loads attacker-controlled MSFTEDIT.DLL from the application directory via the About dialog · Issue #5605 · rizonesoft/Notepad3 · GitHub

https://github.com/rizonesoft/Notepad3/issues/5605
github_pr Patch Available

chg: crtl+c / rmb-copy for line (empty selection) and hyperlinks

Patch available: rizonesoft/Notepad3 RELEASE_7.26.426.1 (PR #5606 merged 2026-03-23)

https://github.com/rizonesoft/Notepad3/pull/5606

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-38972(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 19× in last 7d / 60× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-28 04:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-07-27 15:52 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-27 15:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-07-27 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-27 01:34 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-07-27 01:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-26 13:00 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-07-26 13:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-23 03:10 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-18 10:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-17 05:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-07-16 17:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-07-16 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 35 more
  1. 2026-07-16 04:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-15 15:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-07-15 03:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-14 14:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-07-14 02:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-07-13 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-13 13:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-13 01:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-07-12 12:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-07-12 05:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-12 00:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-07-11 11:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-07-11 08:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-10 22:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-07-10 10:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-07-09 21:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-07-09 19:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-09 09:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-07-08 20:41 UTCEG score recompute▲ 7.80
  25. 2026-07-08 20:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-07-08 15:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-07-07 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-07-06 15:36 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 7.8 · severity → HIGH
  29. 2026-07-06 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-07-06 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-05 21:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-07-04 06:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-07-02 22:06 UTCEG score recompute
  35. 2026-07-02 22:06 UTCGHSA enrichment

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-38972?
CVE-2026-38972 is a high vulnerability published on July 2, 2026. Notepad3 through 6.25.822.1 contains a DLL search-order hijacking vulnerability in the About-dialog code path in src/Notepad3.c. The application calls LoadLibrary(L"MSFTEDIT.DLL") with a bare DLL name, which allows a local attacker to place a malicious MSFTEDIT.DLL in the application directory or…
When was CVE-2026-38972 disclosed?
CVE-2026-38972 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 2, 2026, with the most recent update on July 8, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-38972 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-38972 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 92.1% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-38972?
CVE-2026-38972 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (CISA-ADP / Vulnrichment enrichment; NVD's own analysis pending).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-38972?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-38972, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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