CVE-2026-54055

Summary

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 Software

VendorProductVersion RangeStatus
kovidgoyalkitty< 0.47.2affected

Weaknesses

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

ADP Enrichment

CISA ADP Vulnrichment

  • SSVC:
  • Exploitation: poc
    • Automatable: no
    • Technical Impact: partial

Additional References

References