Patch with Confidence: Stop Auto-Updaters' Hacking Risks

One silent redirect is all it takes! The recent Notepad++ updater incident shows why letting endpoints self-update from the internet is a supply-chain risk, because attackers compromised parts of the update infrastructure and selectively rerouted in-app update checks to attacker-controlled servers, turning the internal updater into the attack zone. When update traffic is redirected to malicious infrastructure, the updater becomes an attacker-controlled delivery channel for any device that trusts it.

With Patch Manager Plus, updates are downloaded directly from the vendor source, verified, tested, and then distributed internally as approved, legitimate patches; so endpoints don’t automatically reach out to random update URLs on their own. Our dedicated Security Research Team continuously monitors major vendor sources validates update authenticity using checksum/SSL/file integrity checks and malware scans (including silent-install validation), and tests updates in an internal environment before approval.

After this, the updates flow through a controlled patch pipeline:

One trusted patch workflow for OS and third-party apps, so endpoints don’t rely on each app’s auto-updater reaching out on its own.
Approve first, deploy in stages, so nothing gets pushed everywhere by surprise.
Block anything suspicious, so tampered or unexpected packages don’t get deployed.
Full visibility and proof with inventory, patch status, and audit-ready deployment logs

Incidents like this remind us why centralized, vendor-sourced patching with approvals and staged rollouts is safer than letting every endpoint rely on in-app auto-updaters. Our centralized patch approach keeps updates trusted, controlled, and auditable, greatly reducing supply-chain exposure from in-app auto-updaters.

Cheers,

The ManageEngine Team