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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-80431: Kovid Goyal kitty · Out-of-bounds Write

Affects Kovid Goyal kittySource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.8 Medium : upgrade to 0.49.0 when convenient.

Data as of 7 Nov 2026, 23:24 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
6.8Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 0.49.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 25 Sep 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 7 Nov 2026.

What to do

Upgrade Kovid Goyal kitty to 0.49.0.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Kovid GoyalkittyAffected
  • >=0.40.0 <0.49.0
Fixed in
  • 0.49.0
GitHubkittypkg:github/kittyOther threatsAffected
  • >=0.40.0 <0.49.0
Fixed in
  • 0.49.0

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

If you cannot patch yet, avoid processing untrusted OSC 66 escape codes or grapheme clusters longer than four codepoints in kitty.

Description

CVE-2026-80431 is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the kitty terminal emulator affecting versions from 0.40.0 up to but not including 0.49.0. The flaw occurs in the text sizing protocol when processing certain grapheme clusters longer than four codepoints in OSC 66 escape codes, leading to writes beyond a fixed-size buffer. This can cause the kitty process to terminate, closing all its windows, tabs, and child processes. The vulnerability has a medium severity rating with a CVSS 4.0 score of 6.8.

References

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