CVE-2026-54055

Kitty has an Arbitrary File Write via Symlink Race Condition in File Transmission Protocol

State
Published
Severity
5.0 Medium
Published
Jun 12, 2026
Updated
Jun 15, 2026
Reserved
Jun 11, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

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.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.15.0 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:LGitHub_M

Weaknesses

  • CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
  • CWE-367 Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
  • CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path

Affected Products

ProductVersions
kittykovidgoyal
  • < 0.47.2Affected

References

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