Vulnerability · Published Jun 12, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-42850Kitty has a shell command injection
High 7.4
In plain English
A high-severity command injection in kitty from kovidgoyal. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 21% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. In versions prior to 0.47.0, it is possible to inject commands within the subshell through kitty error. A special escape code will make kitty return an error, this error is not escaped and will be correctly echoed back to the terminal with CRLF, as such it will be run by the shell in use. To exploit this bug, the victim must use a netcat or a similar program to connect to the attacker, or else listening for someone to connect. Once this condition is set, an attacker could pwn the computer of the victim using a special kitty's escape code that will run a command in the shell in use. Version 04.7.0 fixes the issue.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | kitty | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-42850 |
| Debian:13 | kitty | 0.41.1-2+deb13u2 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-42850 |
| Debian:14 | kitty | 0.47.0-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-42850 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | kitty | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-42850 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| kovidgoyal | kitty | < 0.47.0 |
Weakness: CWE-77 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
References
- https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-p64q-59hq-5q65 x_refsource_CONFIRM