CVE-2026-33633
HighCVSS 7.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk29th percentile - higher than 29% of all known CVEs
Summary
Kitty terminal versions 0.46.2 and below have a heap buffer overflow in load_image_data(). Any process that can write to the terminal's stdin can send a crafted APC command with a PNG declaration exceeding twice the initial buffer capacity, causing an immediate crash and potentially remote code execution.
Risk Assessment
A local or remote attacker (if able to write to stdin) can crash the Kitty terminal, and in extreme cases take over the terminal process.
Recommendation
Upgrade Kitty to version 0.47.0, which fixes the heap buffer overflow.
Other vulnerabilities in Kitty
See all- CVE-2026-33642Critical
Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. In versions 0.46.2 and below, the handle_compose_command() function in kitty/graphics.c performs bounds validation on composition offsets using unsigned 32-bit arithmetic that is subject to integer wrapping, potentially leading to Heap Buffer Over-Read/Write. An attacker who can write escape sequences to a kitty terminal (e.g., via a malicious file, SSH login banner, or piped content) can supply crafted x_offset/y_offset values that pass the bounds check after wrapping but cause massive out-of-bounds heap memory access in compose_rectangles(). No user interaction is required. No non-default configuration is required. The attacker only needs the ability to produce output in a kitty terminal window. This issue has been fixed in version 0.47.0.
- CVE-2026-72913High
Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. Prior to 0.48.2, the @kitty-echo and @kitty-ssh DCS handlers in kitty/window.py write unauthenticated data to the child shell's stdin, where handle_remote_echo accepts printable shell command characters and handle_remote_ssh calls get_ssh_data in kittens/ssh/utils.py, which emits a newline; chaining the handlers can execute attacker-controlled commands when a user displays untrusted terminal data. This issue is fixed in version 0.48.2.
Original NVD description (English source)
Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. Versions 0.46.2 and below contain a heap buffer overflow in load_image_data() that allows any process which can write to the terminal's stdin to crash kitty immediately. The vulnerability is triggered by a single APC graphics protocol command with a PNG format declaration (f=100) whose payload exceeds twice the initial buffer capacity. The overflow is attacker-controlled in both length and content, causing DoS and potentially escalation to RCE itself. This issue has been fixed in version 0.47.0.