Vulnerability · Published Aug 10, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-72913Kitty: Command injection into the child shell via chained @kitty-echo + @kitty-ssh DCS escape sequences

High 7.3

In plain English

A high-severity command injection in kitty from kovidgoyal. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 11% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 4.0)7.3High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 89.1% 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. Prior to 0.48.2, the @kitty-echo and @kitty-ssh DCS handlers in kitty/window.py write unauthenticated data to the child shell's stdin, where handle_remote_echo accepts printable shell command characters and handle_remote_ssh calls get_ssh_data in kittens/ssh/utils.py, which emits a newline; chaining the handlers can execute attacker-controlled commands when a user displays untrusted terminal data. This issue is fixed in version 0.48.2.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Debian:12	kitty	no fix listed	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72913
Debian:13	kitty	no fix listed	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72913
Debian:14	kitty	0.48.2-1	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72913
Ubuntu:26.10	kitty	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72913

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
kovidgoyal	kitty	< 0.48.2

Weakness: CWE-77, CWE-93, CWE-150 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

References

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-ccp2-q4v6-rw94 x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/commit/9dca948e9bec3c926ab3370f2cd10f9b9b10821f x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/releases/tag/v0.48.2 x_refsource_MISC
https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/changelog/#id1 x_refsource_MISC