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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2026-54055 kovidgoyal CVE debrief

A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Kitty, a cross-platform GPU-based terminal, in versions prior to 0.47.2. The vulnerability is caused by a Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition between symlink validation and file creation in Kitty's file transmission protocol. This allows a child process running in the terminal to write to arbitrary files on the filesystem by exploiting the TOCTOU vulnerability. 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.

Vendor
kovidgoyal
Product
kitty
CVSS
MEDIUM 5
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2026-06-12
Original CVE updated
2026-06-16
Advisory published
2026-06-12
Advisory updated
2026-06-16

Who should care

Users of Kitty versions prior to 0.47.2 should update to version 0.47.2 or later to mitigate this vulnerability.

Technical summary

The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 5 and a severity of MEDIUM. It requires local access, high attack complexity, low privileges, and user interaction. The vulnerability allows for high impact on integrity and low impact on availability.

Defensive priority

MEDIUM

Recommended defensive actions

  • Update Kitty to version 0.47.2 or later.

Evidence notes

The vulnerability was reported by an unknown vendor and has a trust class of official_vulnerability_database.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2026-54055 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-54055

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2026-54055 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54055

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

Supplemental references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.