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 products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| kovidgoyal | kitty | < 0.47.2 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | kitty | 0.47.3-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | kitty | 0.41.1-2+deb13u2 | — |
| Debian 12 | kitty | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 25.10 | kitty | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 26.04 LTS | kitty | 0.45.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm2 | USN-8763-1 |
| Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS | kitty | 0.32.2-1ubuntu0.4+esm2 | USN-8763-1 |
Advisories 1
- USN-8763-1 kitty vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Sep 16, 2026