Medium severity · published Jun 12, 2026
CVE-2026-54055
Kitty has an Arbitrary File Write via Symlink Race Condition in File Transmission Protocol
5.0
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
Low
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 0% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KI
kitty · kovidgoyal
< 0.47.2 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54055
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-54055
Mitigation
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh
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