Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

notepad-plus-plus.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 560 posts

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#411

Post by direwolf20 »

stirfish wrote: post #67
ryandrake wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar comments also come up in the [now regular] "I don't want to see political articles on HN" threads, and I think the response is similar: Asking for "no politics" is itself a strong political view: One in support/service of whatever the current status quo is. Trying to set oneself apart from (or above) politics is itself political. If you're lucky enough to be one of the fortunate people on earth who are not un…

Sometimes when the politics deeply affects you, you just need a little break from it.

That's fine, it's also different from what was said

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#412

Post by direwolf20 »

LoganDark wrote: post #52
ryandrake wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar comments also come up in the [now regular] "I don't want to see political articles on HN" threads, and I think the response is similar: Asking for "no politics" is itself a strong political view: One in support/service of whatever the current status quo is. Trying to set oneself apart from (or above) politics is itself political. If you're lucky enough to be one of the fortunate people on earth who are not un…

I don't care for the current status quo at all. The current administration has wrecked this country and completely compromised its position in the global economy potentially forever. But there is a time and a place for those arguments and activism, as well as the same for other parts of the world suffering from similar or worse issues. Like, I wouldn't be receptive to hearing about Ukraine every time I go to the groc…

> There is a time and place for activism

Conveniently, it's never here, and it's never now. I think MLK Junior wrote a speech about this? Letter from a Birmingham Jail: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham....

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#413

Post by 7bit »

tempestn wrote: post #329
otherme123 wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And perhaps a tool to e.g. do a checksum of all Notepad++ files, and compare them to the ones of a verified clean install of the user's installed version, would be a start? Did I understand the attack wrongly? The software could have a 100% correct checksum, because the attack happened in a remote machine that deals with call home events from Notepad++, I guess one of those "Telemetry" add-ons. The attackers did a…

The remote machine that was compromised was responsible for Notepad++ updates , so the concern is that it could cause a compromised version of the software to be installed. But if it could do that, it could probably cause anything to be installed anywhere on the user's machine, so inspecting the installed N++ binary probably wouldn't be too useful.

Checksums are useless in this case. The binary would have to be signed and the installation routine would have to check that the new binary would have been signed with the certificate. That adds complexity, but would have thwarted this specific attempt.

However, there are ways around this, too. No solution is perfect.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#414

Post by direwolf20 »

joejoe638 wrote: post #158
NuclearPM wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a difference between arguing over the tax rate and ignoring fascism. At a certain point there is nothing more important than “politics”.

The issue with making something so universal as software, specifically scientific software political is that it operates in such a broad context that every political statement sooner or later will seem comical outside a very narrow scope. Your comment is a good example of it; who is dictator? The people who hacked the software or the political pole they support? At what point did they become fascist enough to warrant…

If the main problem is that "sooner or later it will seem comical" I don't think this problem is severe enough to justify the number of words that have been written on HN about this topic.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#415

Post by Orygin »

iamnothere wrote: post #148
nophunphil wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't help but feel there must some better venue for such messaging. I would argue that this has been an effective avenue for messaging/protest. You’re responding to it on this very board - that means you’re thinking about it. Another angle: would such free protest be allowed if the developers of Notepad++ were based in China or Russia? I seriously doubt it.

Typically when I see such messaging in an out of place venue it nudges me slightly against both the message and the venue pushing the message. This occurs regardless of whether I agree with the message. I feel the same way as when I see an ad: this does not belong here. I don’t think I am the only one who has this reaction. People who do this should consider if it’s actually helping their cause. If not it’s just feel…

[flagged]

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#416

Post by direwolf20 »

b65e8bee43c2ed0 wrote: post #116
dymk wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ukraine and Taiwan are only relevant to Americans, right

iirc, Notepad++'s "I support the current thing" was about Honk Kong, not Taiwan.

Hong Kong is only relevant to Americans, right...

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#417

Post by hypeatei »

Lammy wrote: post #220
sodality2 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you deal with the opposite, software that you forget to update but contains vulnerabilities discovered/exploited later?

I use a package manager that checks the hash of the downloaded installer against what's recorded in the package listing for that version. WinGet has been built in to Windows since one of the 2018-era releases of Windows 10: https://i.ibb.co/VYGXdc56/2026-02-01-20-46-28-Greenshot.png

Integrity checks say nothing about the package authenticity, though. State sponsored actors could just... change the hash on the listing in a hypothetical attack.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#418

Post by direwolf20 »

leosarev wrote: post #252
mmsc wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the political messages said "gas the Jews", "exterminate the Ukrainians and give Ukraine to Russia", and "Taiwan has and always will be a province of china", you probably wouldn't use notepad++.

> Taiwan has and always will be a province of china You know that's official position of 99% countries in the world, including all superpowers and every NATO member?

Only officially, because it's a requirement to retain trade relationships with China and China makes everything.

Everyone, including 99% of the world's politicians that don't have their heads up their asses, including the ones who wrote the official positions that Taiwan is not a country, knows Taiwan is a country.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#419

Post by jdiff »

LoganDark wrote: post #33
icelancer wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Notepad++ is known for political messaging in their updates. Taiwan, Ukraine, etc.

I can't help but feel there must some better venue for such messaging. When I see politics in software updates or documentation, nothing happens because I'm not looking to use the software for political activism. Maybe I tell my adblocker to remove the messaging, and carry on with my task. I can engage with politics in a social context, when political messaging isn't interrupting something else I'm doing; that's a be…

From https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v781-free-uyghur-edition/

> People will tell me again to not mix politics with software/business. Doing so surely impacts the popularity of Notepad++: talking about politics is exactly what software and commercial companies generally try to avoid. The problem is, if we don’t deal with politics, politics will deal with us. We can choose to not act when people are being oppressed, but when it’s our turn to be oppressed, it will be too late and there will be no one for us. You don’t need to be Uyghur or a Muslim to act, you need only to be a human and have empathy for our fellow humans.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#420

Post by JoystickX02 »

FatalLogic wrote: post #298
edb_123 wrote: post #185

So, let me get this straight. If I've been lazy, postponed updates and I'm still on 8.5.8 (Oct 2023) - it turns out I'm actually...safer? Anyway, I hope the author can be a bit more specific about what actually has happened to those unlucky enough to have received these malicious updates. And perhaps a tool to e.g. do a checksum of all Notepad++ files, and compare them to the ones of a verified clean install of the u…

>I'm still on 8.5.8 (Oct 2023) - it turns out I'm actually...safer? Notepad++ site says The incident began from June 2025. On their downloads page, 8.8.2 was the first update in June 2025 (the previous update 8.8.1 was released 2025-05-05) So, if your installed version is 8.8.1 or lower, then you should be safe. Assuming that they're right about when the incident began. edit: Notepad++ has published, on Github, SHA25…

Just checked my 8.7.9 that I installed in April 2025 and never updated. The hash seems to be identical to the version I installed around that time. Seems like it was a good choice to always skip the Update Dialog when using Notepad++ lol.
Post reply on HN