CVE-2026-42851 json
@kitty-edit DCS + --color=geninclude vulnerable to Unauthenticated in-process RCE
published 2026-06-12 4 mo ago modified 2026-10-26 14 d ago also EUVD-2026-36555
- cvss
- 7.8
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 5%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. In versions prior to 0.47.0, a program able to write bytes to a kitty terminal — a remote SSH peer, a downloaded file viewed with `cat`, a log line, an email body rendered in `less`, an issue body in a TUI, etc. — can cause kitty to execute attacker-supplied Python inside the running kitty process, with the user's full privileges. There is no approval prompt, no remote-control permission requirement, no shell-integration interaction, no clipboard touch, and no editor interaction. Version 0.47.0 fixes the issue.
Patch / fix
- kitty_project kitty 0.47.0
- kovidgoyal kitty 0.47.0
- kitty Debian 13 0.41.1-2+deb13u2
- kitty Debian 14 0.47.0-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-42851
- kitty Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS 0.32.2-1ubuntu0.4+esm2
- kitty Ubuntu Pro 26.04 LTS 0.45.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm2
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-42851
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kitty openSUSE Leap 16.0 0.48.2-bp160.1.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21599-1
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-42851 updated cvss 7.8
kitty: Kitty: Arbitrary code execution via crafted terminal output
-
Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat productsnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
- Assessed
- 4 mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Exploits and checks
- github.com https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-w98g-hpvr-r332 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Affected products
- kovidgoyal kitty
Classification
References
-
github.com
/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-w98g-hpvr-r332
exploit, mitigation, vendor-advisory
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-42851
- NVD CVE-2026-42851
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.
CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.