Code Injection in kitty - CVE-2026-42851
Published: September 22, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU151620
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4: 8.4 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-42851
CWE-ID: CWE-94
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code.
The vulnerability exists due to improper control of generation of code in the @kitty-edit DCS handler and color configuration parser when processing attacker-controlled terminal output. A remote attacker can send terminal control sequences containing a --color=geninclude directive to execute arbitrary code.
User interaction is required to view attacker-controlled bytes through a kitty terminal; no further approval, editor interaction, or remote-control permission is required.
Affected software
kitty
Debian Linux
Ubuntu
kitty (Ubuntu package)
kitty (Debian package)
Debian Linux
Ubuntu
kitty (Ubuntu package)
kitty (Debian package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-42851
Install security update from vendor's website.
kitty - update to 0.47.0
kitty (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 0.32.2-1ubuntu0.4+esm2, 0.45.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm2
kitty (Debian package) - update to 0.41.1-2+deb13u2
kitty (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 0.32.2-1ubuntu0.4+esm2, 0.45.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm2
kitty (Debian package) - update to 0.41.1-2+deb13u2