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.
Fix
Patch, vendor advisory and mitigation references on NVD 2
- https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
Every line above is quoted from NVD, CISA, Microsoft, the vendor's own advisory or DISA; nothing is generated.
Change history 1
- First seenCVSS 5.0 · kovidgoyalNVD modified 2026-10-26 11:10
Affected (CPE criteria) 1
cpe:2.3:a:kovidgoyal:kitty:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
References 2
- https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh Mitigation, Vendor Advisory