CVE-2026-80432

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Missing Authorization in Kitty Terminal Drag-and-Drop

Publication date: 2026-09-25

Last updated on: 2026-09-29

Assigner: Secur0

Description

Missing Authorization in the drop handling path of the drag and drop protocol in kitty from 0.47.0 before 0.49.0 allows a program writing to the terminal to obtain the contents of files dragged over the window even when the user never completes the drop, because drop_enqueue_request() in kitty/dnd.c serves a drag data request without first checking the drop state of the window, so a client that issues the request while a drag is merely hovering receives the data offered for the drag. In the same file, drop_left_child(), which runs when the drag leaves the window without a drop having occurred, releases the offered MIME list but retains the pending request state, the open file descriptor and its main loop transfer timer, the directory handles, the URI list and the pending MIME name, so a client can continue to read through a retained directory handle, and an in-flight file transfer continues to stream, when no drag is in progress. The file contents are read from the filesystem by the kitty process itself using the paths the drag source offered. This results in disclosure of the contents of files the user moved over the window without ever releasing them into it.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-25

Last Modified

2026-09-29

Generated

2026-10-16

AI Q&A

2026-09-25

EPSS Evaluated

2026-10-14

NVD

CVE-2026-80432

EUVD

EUVD-2026-87226

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
kitty	kitty	to 0.49.0 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-862	The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability in kitty versions 0.47.0 to 0.49.0 allows unauthorized access to file contents when a user hovers a file over the terminal window without completing a drag-and-drop action. The program can read file data offered for a drag operation even if the user never drops the file, due to missing authorization checks in the drag-and-drop protocol handling.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the kitty terminal emulator versions 0.47.0 to 0.49.0 and does not involve network detection. To check for affected versions, run: kitty --version. If the version is between 0.47.0 and 0.49.0, the system is vulnerable. No network commands are applicable as the issue is local to the terminal application.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to read sensitive files on your system by simply hovering a file over the kitty terminal window. This could lead to unauthorized access to confidential data, such as documents, images, or other files stored locally.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized data exposure, potentially violating GDPR (data protection) and HIPAA (health information privacy) by allowing access to sensitive personal or health-related files without authorization.

Mitigation Strategies

Update kitty to version 0.49.0 or later to address the missing authorization issue in the drag and drop protocol handling.

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