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Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

cve.org

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Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#251

Post by michaelsshaw »

TZubiri wrote: post #144
r2vcap wrote: post #37

A few days ago, Notepad++ got compromised—apparently by a state actor (or a proxy). And now, today, Windows’ built-in Notepad has a fresh CVE. What a life. At this point, what am I supposed to do other than uninstall Windows completely? No real sandboxing, a mountain of legacy…

>No real sandboxing, a mountain of legacy… You have: - Windows Sandbox (consumer-level sandbox) - Creating a separate User (User folders are permission locked to their user by default, system binaries cannot be modified without admin access) - HyperV (VM hypervisor) - Edge Browsers Don't get me wrong MSFT quality is dropping steeply, but this is still a strong point. For comparision, on Ubuntu, user folder by default…

>Creating a separate User (User folders are permission locked to their user by default, system binaries cannot be modified without admin access)

Common practice, and even encouraged by Windows itself, is having the administrator account be the only account. This misuse is a very common thread in Windows systems, and security breaches alike.

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#252

Post by gruez »

gcr wrote: post #246
mjmas wrote: post #134

It is to do with link handling: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-20... > An attacker could trick a user into clicking a malicious link inside a Markdown file opened in Notepad, causing the application to launch unverified protocols that load and execute remote files.

What does “unverified protocols” mean? Does Windows have an exe:// url scheme that fetches and runs executable binaries or something?

Yes? ShellExecute opens a url if you pass in a url, opens a file if you pass in a path, and runs an .exe if that file is an .exe. Windows also supports SMB paths, so combine that together and you have a RCE

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#253

Post by mfro »

UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #123
sheiyei wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some cases. In others, the application does whatever it wants.

And funnily enough, Office for Mac doesn’t allow you to do this, or at least it didn’t used to. I think I may’ve just noticed that it’s started working.

Doesn’t work for me. The absolute most infuriating thing is that copying text out of OneNote pastes as AN IMAGE. The only way around this is sanitizing the text in a notepad on the host machine itself.

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#254

Post by eterm »

onion2k wrote: post #245
wormpilled wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't Indian software developers stand up for themselves and say no?

Because there are plenty of developers who'll say yes, so anyone saying no is putting their ethics ahead of their livelihood. Few people will be willing to put their beliefs ahead of providing for their family. It's easy to say you will, and very hard to actually do it.

That's what ethics are. If you don't make sacrifices for them they aren't ethics they're just conveniences.

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#255

Post by jahsome »

sneak wrote: post #166
bigfatkitten wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At some point, they need to stop asking "can we add this feature?" and start asking "does this text editor need a network-aware rendering stack?" They didn’t stop there. They also asked “does this need AI?” and came up with the wrong answer.

It’s just resumé driven development. Corporate droids gotta justify their salaries somehow. It doesn’t pay to call software “done”.

And yet, if they were raising a Series A, they'd be lauded as "disruptors"

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#256

Post by prmoustache »

SoKamil wrote: post #178
SomeUserName432 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find notepad useful for sanitising clipboard content. No bold text, italics, bullet points, invisible html.. Just get the text and can copy it to paste again somewhere else. Ala Cmd+Shift+V on Mac

I always used browser address bar for that. But giving it a second thought, I uploaded the data to Google servers.

I have my firefox browser configured to keep using a separate search field and not make search queries in the url bar. It annoys a lot my partner if I let her use my computer to check something but it is frictionless once you unlearn bad habits.

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#257

Post by dkga »

One of the (not so many) things about Windows that I loved was the zen simplicity of the Notepad. I saw it through Windows 3.1 all the way to the bloated oblivion it was driven to, and I did not like to see that sad, final chapter. (Broader theme, do I miss the simpler computer times!)

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#258

Post by [deleted] »

voidUpdate wrote: post #26

I found a copy of the win98 (I believe) notepad.exe a while back, and it works perfectly on windows 11 (though the "about notepad" dialog shows the windows 11 version for some reason??). I can write text into it, save it, and load text again. What more does notepad need? And it has a very nostalgic font too

[deleted]

Re: Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

#260

Post by graemep »

mjmas wrote: post #134

It is to do with link handling: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-20... > An attacker could trick a user into clicking a malicious link inside a Markdown file opened in Notepad, causing the application to launch unverified protocols that load and execute remote files.

Is this a big deal? is it also not a problem with anything that renders clickable links? Browsers, email clients, whatever.

Is this not a problem with anything that offers a preview of markdown (or HTML, or anything with embedded links)?

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