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Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-54055 · published 12 June 2026

CVE-2026-54055: Kovidgoyal kitty link following vulnerability

Kovidgoyal · Kitty

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.

5.0 CVSS 3.1 Medium EPSS 0.10% · top 99.4% CWE-59 · Link followingCWE-367 · TOCTOU race condition
5.0CVSS 3.1 base score
0.10%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
2References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

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:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh MitigationVendor Advisory
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-q446-x7q6-vcxh MitigationVendor Advisory

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-54055), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.