CVE-2026-80431

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

MEDIUM
6.8
CVSS Score
Published: September 25, 2026 at 01:23 PM UTC
Updated: September 29, 2026 at 09:32 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorKitty

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Severity
MEDIUM6.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.1%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

0.40.0 ≤ v < 0.49.00.40.0
Affected range stops below 0.49.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

6.8MEDIUMSecur0
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusAWAITING ANALYSIS
CWE
CWE-787

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