CVE-2026-54055
In versions prior to 0.47.2, a local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in kitty's file transmission protocol where a child process running in the terminal can write to arbitrary files on the filesystem by exploiting a TOCTOU…
Does this matter?
Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.07%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.
Description
Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. In versions prior to 0.47.2, a local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in kitty's file transmission protocol where a child process running in the terminal can write to arbitrary files on the filesystem by exploiting a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) race condition between symlink validation and file creation. The `os.open()` call used to create files does not use `O_NOFOLLOW`, allowing an attacker to create a symlink between the initial stat check and the actual file open, causing the write to follow the symlink to an arbitrary destination. Version 0.47.2 fixes the issue.
- CVSS 3.1
- 5.0 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L
- EPSS
- 0.07% probability · 0th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-59, CWE-367, CWE-426
- Affected
- kovidgoyal/kitty
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
EPSS 0.1% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxhMitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxhMitigation, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.