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.

The remote Debian 13 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the dsa-6423 advisory.

    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------     Debian Security Advisory DSA-6423-1                   security@debian.org     https://www.debian.org/security/                             Nilesh Patra     August 09, 2026                       https://www.debian.org/security/faq
    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Package        : kitty     CVE ID         : CVE-2026-42850 CVE-2026-42851 CVE-2026-54055 CVE-2026-54057     Debian Bug     : 1139898

    Multiple security issues were discovered in kitty, a GPU based terminal     emulator, which may result in the execution of arbitrary code, command     injection into the shell running in the terminal, or the overwriting of     arbitrary files, if untrusted content is displayed in a terminal window.

    For the stable distribution (trixie), these problems have been fixed in     version 0.41.1-2+deb13u2.

    We recommend that you upgrade your kitty packages.

    For the detailed security status of kitty please refer to     its security tracker page at:
    https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/kitty

    Further information about Debian Security Advisories, how to apply     these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be     found at: https://www.debian.org/security/

    Mailing list: debian-security-announce@lists.debian.org

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Debian security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - 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. (CVE-2026-42851)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
338650	openSUSE 16 Security Update : kitty (openSUSE-SU-2026:21599-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	high
333554	Debian dsa-6423 : kitty - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	Local	high
320964	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-42851	Nessus	Misc.	Local	high

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CVE-2026-42851

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Tenable Plugins

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