Every CVE Search/ Get API key

CVE-2026-80431

Out-of-bounds write in the kitty text sizing protocol allows termination of the terminal process

6.8 Medium

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
Passive

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

0.13%Unchanged since Sep 26, 2026
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 6.8

Out-of-bounds write in the kitty text sizing protocol allows termination of the terminal process

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Record
CVE-2026-80431
CVSS 4.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-87088 6.8

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Record
EUVD-2026-87088
CVSS 4.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-fx7r-q727-j825 6.8

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0...

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Record
GHSA-fx7r-q727-j825
CVSS 4.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Weakness
CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 6.8

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Record
CVE-2026-80431
CVSS 4.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Weakness
CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 6.8

Out-of-bounds write in the kitty text sizing protocol allows termination of the terminal process

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Record
CVE-2026-80431
CVSS 4.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2026-80431 6.8

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80431
CVSS 4.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2026-80431 6.8

Out-of-bounds Write in the natural width branch of the text sizing protocol in kitty from 0.40.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to write past the end of a fixed-size buffer, because screen_handle_multicell_command() in kitty/screen.c appends each codepoint of a grapheme cluster with lc.chars[lc.count++] = ch without any capacity check, while lc is declared by the RAII_ListOfChars macro as a four-element char_type array in the function's stack frame, so an OSC 66 escape code whose payload carries a grapheme cluster longer than four codepoints writes beyond that buffer, one 32-bit value per additional codepoint, in the order the codepoints appear. Where the cluster is preceded in the same payload by a sequence that causes an intermediate flush, the buffer is first migrated to the heap by ensure_space_for_chars() and the write occurs past the heap allocation instead. This results in termination of the kitty process and therefore of all its windows, tabs and child processes.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80431
CVSS 4.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
kitty
Debian:12
All versions, plus listed versions
0.26.5-50.30.1-10.31.0-10.31.0-20.31.0-3
Show 35 moreShow less
0.31.0-40.32.0-10.32.1-10.32.2-10.33.0-20.33.1-10.34.1-10.35.1-10.35.2-10.36.1-10.36.4-10.36.4-20.36.4-30.37.0-10.38.1-10.39.0-10.39.1-10.40.0-10.41.1-10.41.1-20.42.1-10.42.2-10.43.1-10.44.0-10.45.0-10.45.0-20.46.1-10.46.2-10.47.0-10.47.0-20.47.0-30.47.3-10.47.4-10.48.2-10.48.2-1.1
None known
kitty
Debian:13
All versions, plus listed versions
0.41.1-20.41.1-2+deb13u10.41.1-2+deb13u20.42.1-10.42.2-1
Show 13 moreShow less
0.43.1-10.44.0-10.45.0-10.45.0-20.46.1-10.46.2-10.47.0-10.47.0-20.47.0-30.47.3-10.47.4-10.48.2-10.48.2-1.1
None known
kitty
Debian:14
All versions, plus listed versions
0.41.1-20.42.1-10.42.2-10.43.1-10.44.0-1
Show 11 moreShow less
0.45.0-10.45.0-20.46.1-10.46.2-10.47.0-10.47.0-20.47.0-30.47.3-10.47.4-10.48.2-10.48.2-1.1
None known
kitty
Ubuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.14.3-10.14.4-10.14.6-10.15.0-10.15.0-1build10.15.0-1ubuntu0.20.15.0-1ubuntu0.2+esm1
None known
kitty
Ubuntu:Pro:22.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.19.3-10.21.2-10.21.2-1build10.21.2-1ubuntu0.22.04.10.21.2-1ubuntu0.22.04.1+esm1
None known
kitty
Ubuntu:Pro:24.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.26.5-3ubuntu20.26.5-5ubuntu10.31.0-30.31.0-40.32.2-1
Show 8 moreShow less
0.32.2-1build20.32.2-1build30.32.2-1ubuntu0.10.32.2-1ubuntu0.20.32.2-1ubuntu0.30.32.2-1ubuntu0.40.32.2-1ubuntu0.4+esm10.32.2-1ubuntu0.4+esm2
None known
kitty
Ubuntu:26.10
All versions, plus listed versions
0.45.0-1build10.47.0-30.47.4-10.48.2-1.1ubuntu1
None known
kitty
Ubuntu:Pro:26.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.41.1-20.43.1-10.44.0-10.45.0-10.45.0-1build10.45.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm10.45.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm2
None known

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2026-80431 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.8) in Kitty Project Kitty, published September 25, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.13%, the 2nd percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

Show 4 moreShow less
MoveEnter Open