Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain local foothold on dev host
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DeliveryReach localhost Kilo Code daemon port
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ExploitPOST /permission/allow-everything unauthenticated
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ExecutionPermission prompts disabled
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PersistIssue arbitrary command via agent
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ImpactExecute code as victim user
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Insufficient permission handling
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| Exploitation Conditions | Requires the Kilo Code CLI daemon/TUI HTTP server to be running on the target host AND the attacker to have local access to its loopback listener (another local user account, a malicious local process/dependency, or a browser/tool able to reach the localhost port). Pre-fix, the daemon used a hardcoded default password ('kilo') and the |
| Impact | This is a genuine but access-gated code-execution flaw, not an internet-facing crisis. The provided CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H = 8.4 HIGH) is internally consistent with the source evidence: the vulnerable |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | On a host where the Kilo Code CLI daemon is running, a local attacker - a low-privileged user account, a malicious dependency/build script, or a web page exploiting the localhost HTTP listener - sends a request to the unauthenticated |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 01, 2026
Unauthenticated local privilege abuse in the Kilo Code CLI (versions before v7.4.1) lets any local process or user that can reach the daemon/TUI loopback HTTP listener toggle the '/permission/allow-everything' permission mode and then drive the agent into executing arbitrary code on the host. The issue combines two weaknesses: the daemon shipped a hardcoded default Basic-auth password of 'kilo', and the permission-toggle route was exempted from authentication whenever global auth was optional, so no credentials were required at all (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, base 8.4, CWE-280). Exploitation is not network-remote: it requires the daemon/TUI HTTP server to be running and the attacker to already have local reach to its loopback port, so it is access-gated rather than an internet-facing crisis; no public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, CISA SSVC records Exploitation as 'none' with Automatable 'no', and no EPSS score was supplied.
RemediationAI
Update Kilo Code CLI to v7.4.1 or later (vendor-released patch delivered via GitHub PR Kilo-Org/kilocode#11887, commit 51e45d7fb7), which forces authentication on '/permission/allow-everything', fail-closes high-risk unauthenticated endpoints, and replaces the hardcoded 'kilo' Basic-auth password with a per-process randomUUID(). Verify the upgrade by confirming requests to the permission endpoint are rejected with 401 without valid credentials. If upgrading is not immediately possible, compensating controls must account for the fact that the pre-fix daemon offers no supported way to set its password (the KILO_SERVER_USERNAME/KILO_SERVER_PASSWORD flags are introduced by the fix itself), so the practical options are: (1) do not run the CLI daemon/TUI HTTP server on multi-user or untrusted hosts - trade-off is loss of daemon/TUI functionality for all users of that host; (2) run Kilo Code inside a dedicated container, namespace, or VM with no other local tenants and no shared loopback reachability - trade-off is reduced integration convenience with host tooling and files; (3) restrict which local accounts and processes can open sockets to the daemon's loopback port using OS-level access controls (per-user network namespaces, firewalling loopback by UID, or SELinux/AppArmor-style socket mediation) - trade-off is configuration complexity and possible breakage of legitimate local SDK/TUI clients; and (4) avoid leaving long-lived interactive agent sessions running unattended with broad file and shell access, since the exploited endpoint escalates the agent's own privilege to 'allow everything'. Note that no public exploit code was identified at time of analysis and CISA SSVC rates the issue as not automatable, but the local-only attack surface means the primary defense is upgrading plus limiting local reach to the loopback listener.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
Kilo Code is an AI coding agent distributed as the @kilocode/cli package and built on an opencode-derived HTTP server stack. The daemon and TUI spawn a local HTTP API (an Effect-based server with an authorization middleware layer) that exposes instance routes, including '/permission/allow-everything', which relaxes the agent's tool/command permission gating. Root cause is CWE-280, Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges: the route was treated as optional-auth even when the server's global auth requirement was disabled, and the daemon's Basic-auth credential defaulted to the static string 'kilo' rather than a per-instance secret. The upstream fix (PR Kilo-Org/kilocode#11887) adds a REQUIRED_AUTH_PATHS set that forces authentication for '/permission/allow-everything' regardless of the global policy, introduces a guarded() helper that fail-closes on high-risk endpoints, replaces the hardcoded 'kilo' password with crypto.randomUUID(), and derives shared worker credentials (KILO_SERVER_USERNAME/KILO_SERVER_PASSWORD via ServerAuth.headers) so the spawned worker server and the TUI's own SDK clients authenticate with matching Basic-auth material. The change notes explicitly state the intent: 'Require authentication before enabling allow-everything permissions over HTTP.' The provided CPE string is a placeholder (n/a:n/a) and does not resolve to a concrete product, so product identification rests on the package name and commit evidence rather than CPE data.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local loopback listener with no pre-fix authentication (AV:L, PR:N, UI:N); toggling allow-everything yields full arbitrary command execution as the user, so C:H/I:H/A:H.
Primary rating from Vendor (mitre).
CVSS VectorVendor: mitre
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
An issue in Kilo Code before v7.4.1 allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code via the permission/allow-everything endpoint
Executive ViewAI
Kilo Code CLI releases before v7.4.1 contain a permission-bypass flaw that lets any process or user with access to a developer workstation hijack the local agent daemon and execute arbitrary code under that developer's account. The exposure matters because coding agents typically run alongside source repositories, cloud credentials, SSH keys, and CI/CD tokens, so a single compromised or malicious local account can pivot into broader corporate systems. The flaw is access-gated to hosts running the daemon and reachable on its loopback listener, making this a developer-endpoint risk rather than an internet-facing emergency.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis; interim mitigations are to enable mandatory authentication on the daemon and TUI listener, replace the hardcoded default Basic-auth password 'kilo' with a unique per-host secret, disable the daemon and the /permission/allow-everything toggle when not actively in use, restrict local logon and process access on affected developer endpoints, and rotate any credentials or tokens stored on exposed hosts. If the v7.4.1 build is obtainable and vendor-confirmed as fixed, upgrade to it.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
EUVD-2026-89423
GHSA-vmfg-8hhv-69wh
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB