Vulnerability · Published Jun 12, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-54055Kitty has an Arbitrary File Write via Symlink Race Condition in File Transmission Protocol

Medium 5.0

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in kitty from kovidgoyal. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 0% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.0Medium

Exploit odds (30 days)<0.1%top 100.0% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: poc

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official 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.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Debian:12	kitty	no fix listed	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-54055
Debian:13	kitty	0.41.1-2+deb13u2	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-54055
Debian:14	kitty	0.47.3-1	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-54055
Ubuntu:25.10	kitty	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2026-54055

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
kovidgoyal	kitty	< 0.47.2

Weakness: CWE-59, CWE-367, CWE-426 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L

References

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh x_refsource_CONFIRM