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.

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History

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 21:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Kovidgoyal
Kovidgoyal kitty
Vendors & Products Kovidgoyal
Kovidgoyal kitty

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 20:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Kitty has an Arbitrary File Write via Symlink Race Condition in File Transmission Protocol
Weaknesses CWE-367
CWE-426
CWE-59
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L'}


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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-06-12T20:03:17.907Z

Reserved: 2026-06-11T18:24:35.096Z

Link: CVE-2026-54055

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-06-12T20:16:47.450

Modified: 2026-06-12T20:16:47.450

Link: CVE-2026-54055

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-06-12T21:30:07Z

Weaknesses