Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. In versions prior to 0.47.2, a local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in kitty's file transmission protocol where a child process running in the terminal can write to arbitrary files on the filesystem by exploiting a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) race condition between symlink validation and file creation. The `os.open()` call used to create files does not use `O_NOFOLLOW`, allowing an attacker to create a symlink between the initial stat check and the actual file open, causing the write to follow the symlink to an arbitrary destination. Version 0.47.2 fixes the issue.

The remote Ubuntu 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-8763-1 advisory.

    It was discovered that kitty incorrectly escaped error messages when handling specially crafted terminal     escape sequences. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary commands.
    (CVE-2026-42850)

    It was discovered that kitty incorrectly handled remote edit requests in terminal output. An attacker     could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code with the user's privileges. (CVE-2026-42851)

    Thai Son Dinh and Nguyen Huy Vu Dung discovered that kitty incorrectly handled destination paths in its     file transmission protocol. A local attacker could possibly use this issue to overwrite arbitrary files     with the user's privileges. (CVE-2026-54055)

    It was discovered that kitty incorrectly sanitized responses to color queries. An attacker could possibly     use this issue to execute arbitrary commands with the user's privileges. This issue only affected Ubuntu     26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-54057)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu 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 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 0.47.2, a local privilege escalation     vulnerability exists in kitty's file transmission protocol where a child process running in the terminal     can write to arbitrary files on the filesystem by exploiting a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) race     condition between symlink validation and file creation. The `os.open()` call used to create files does not     use `O_NOFOLLOW`, allowing an attacker to create a symlink between the initial stat check and the actual     file open, causing the write to follow the symlink to an arbitrary destination. Version 0.47.2 fixes the     issue. (CVE-2026-54055)

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

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
346239	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS : kitty vulnerabilities (USN-8763-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	Local	high
333554	Debian dsa-6423 : kitty - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	Local	high
320968	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-54055	Nessus	Misc.	Local	medium

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CVE-2026-54055

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