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
Elevated
7.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 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
7.9%
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 11× in last 7d / 50× 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. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-23 03:10 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-18 10:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-17 05:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-07-16 17:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-07-16 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-16 04:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-15 15:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-07-15 03:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-14 14:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-07-14 02:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-07-13 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-13 13:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 25 more
  1. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-13 01:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-07-12 12:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-07-12 05:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-12 00:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-07-11 11:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-07-11 08:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-10 22:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-07-10 10:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-07-09 21:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-07-09 19:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-09 09:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-07-08 20:41 UTCEG score recompute▲ 7.80
  15. 2026-07-08 20:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-07-08 15:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-07 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-06 15:36 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 7.8 · severity → HIGH
  19. 2026-07-06 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-06 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-05 21:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-04 06:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-02 22:06 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-07-02 22:06 UTCGHSA enrichment

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 7.9% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
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

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2026-38972

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-38972?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.

Start Free Scan →Browse All CVEs