CVE-2026-95834
MediumCVSS 4.6Summary
Use After Free vulnerability in the drag and drop protocol in kitty from 0.47.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to cause the terminal to read from and write to freed heap memory. The bug occurs in drag_remote_file_data() in kitty/dnd.c, where a pointer to an array is used after it has been freed by helper functions.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can exploit this vulnerability to cause undefined behavior in the terminal process, potentially leading to crashes, information disclosure, or possibly code execution. The threat is reachable from the byte stream of any program running in the terminal window.
Recommendation
It is recommended to immediately upgrade kitty to version 0.49.0 or later, which includes a fix for this vulnerability. Until the update is applied, avoid running untrusted programs in the kitty terminal.
Other vulnerabilities in kitty
See all- CVE-2026-95835Medium
Missing Authorization in the askpass escape code handler in kitty from 0.25.0 before 0.49.0 allows a local user other than the one running the terminal to obtain text typed into a prompt displayed by kitty. The handle_remote_askpass() function opens the POSIX shared memory object named in the escape code and writes the user's answer back without verifying ownership or permissions. An attacker can create such an object, cause the victim's kitty to render a prompt of their choosing, and read the typed secret afterwards.
- CVE-2026-80432Medium
Missing Authorization in the drop handling path of the drag and drop protocol in kitty from 0.47.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to obtain the contents of files dragged over the window even when the user never completes the drop, and to continue reading files after the drag leaves the window.
- CVE-2026-80431Medium
In kitty versions from 0.40.0 to 0.49.0, there is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol. A program writing to the terminal can send an OSC 66 escape code with a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints, causing a write past the end of the fixed-size buffer in screen_handle_multicell_command(). This results in termination of the kitty process and all its windows, tabs and child processes.
- CVE-2026-80430Medium
In kitty versions 0.47.0 to 0.49.0, there is an improper link resolution before file access in the drag source staging path of the drag and drop protocol. A program writing to the terminal can create files and directories outside the staging directory by crafting entries with symlinks and subsequently following them during item creation. This allows the attacker to write to any path writable by the user running kitty.
- CVE-2026-95832Critical
In kitty from version 0.47.3 before 0.49.0, the colour control escape code handler does not neutralize field names in replies, allowing a program writing to the terminal to execute an arbitrary command in the user's shell. An attacker can compose a shell command using printable ASCII characters and a newline from handle_remote_ssh().
- 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.
- CVE-2026-33633High
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.
Original NVD description (English source)
Use After Free in the drag source path of the drag and drop protocol in kitty from 0.47.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to cause the terminal to read from and write to freed heap memory, because drag_remote_file_data() in kitty/dnd.c holds a DragRemoteItem pointer into an array it does not own, calls toplevel_data_for_drag() or subdir_data_for_drag(), and then continues to use that pointer. Those helpers, and add_payload() and populate_dir_entries() which they call, report errors through the abrt() macro, which expands to cancel_drag() followed by a plain return, and cancel_drag() calls drag_free_offer(), which frees the array the pointer refers to. The helpers return void, so the caller receives no indication that the teardown happened, and proceeds to call all_children_complete() on the freed pointer, which dereferences it, and then to write through it. That dereference is guarded by a local flag that is set when the request carries no payload and announces no further data, which is the same condition that selects the finalisation block of add_payload(), so the error paths in that block reach it: a create that fails because an entry of the same name already exists, because the client may declare two entries with one name and the create operations use O_CREAT with O_EXCL and symlinkat(), a mkdirat() failure other than EEXIST, and the directory entry allocation paths. Both branches reach it. In the top level branch the caller's pointer is never cleared, so clearing the owning structure's own pointers during teardown does not help. In the sub directory branch subdir_data_for_drag() sets the caller's pointer to NULL on entry and assigns it only after its own last error path, so its own aborts leave the caller with NULL and are stopped by a null check, but it then calls add_payload() with that pointer set, and an abort there leaves the caller holding a freed child node inside the item tree, which drag_free_offer() frees by recursion. This results in undefined behaviour in the terminal process, reachable from the byte stream of any program running in the window.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS