Bug 2488542 (CVE-2026-42851)

Summary: CVE-2026-42851 kitty: Kitty: Arbitrary code execution via crafted terminal output
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: high    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in Kitty, a cross-platform GPU-based terminal. A local attacker, or a remote attacker who can control output displayed in the terminal, could exploit this vulnerability. By sending specially crafted input to the terminal, the attacker can cause Kitty to execute arbitrary Python code within the user's session, leading to arbitrary code execution with the user's full privileges.
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Bug Depends On: 2488611, 2488613    
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-06-12 21:01:43 UTC
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.