High severity · published May 19, 2026
CVE-2026-33633
Kitty has a Heap Buffer Overflow in its Graphics Protocol Handler
8.8
CVSS
0.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Kitty is a cross-platform GPU based terminal. Versions 0.46.2 and below contain a heap buffer overflow in load_image_data() that allows any process which can write to the terminal's stdin to crash kitty immediately. The vulnerability is triggered by a single APC graphics protocol command with a PNG format declaration (f=100) whose payload exceeds twice the initial buffer capacity. The overflow is attacker-controlled in both length and content, causing DoS and potentially escalation to RCE itself. This issue has been fixed in version 0.47.0.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.4% · higher than 32% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KI
kitty · kovidgoyal
< 0.47.0 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33633
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-33633
Patch
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/commit/e9661f0f3afb4e4dbffa509adfb3df3c9780ad34
Exploit
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/security/advisories/GHSA-j68c-v8x4-269g
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