CVE-2023-40581
yt-dlp command injection when using `%q` in `--exec` on Windows
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- GitHub_M
Description
yt-dlp is a youtube-dl fork with additional features and fixes. yt-dlp allows the user to provide shell command lines to be executed at various stages in its download steps through the `--exec` flag. This flag allows output template expansion in its argument, so that metadata values may be used in the shell commands. The metadata fields can be combined with the `%q` conversion, which is intended to quote/escape these values so they can be safely passed to the shell. However, the escaping used for `cmd` (the shell used by Python's `subprocess` on Windows) does not properly escape special characters, which can allow for remote code execution if `--exec` is used directly with maliciously crafted remote data. This vulnerability only impacts `yt-dlp` on Windows, and the vulnerability is present regardless of whether `yt-dlp` is run from `cmd` or from `PowerShell`. Support for output template expansion in `--exec`, along with this vulnerable behavior, was added to `yt-dlp` in version 2021.04.11. yt-dlp version 2023.09.24 fixes this issue by properly escaping each special character. `\n` will be replaced by `\r` as no way of escaping it has been found. It is recommended to upgrade yt-dlp to version 2023.09.24 as soon as possible. Also, always be careful when using --exec, because while this specific vulnerability has been patched, using unvalidated input in shell commands is inherently dangerous. For Windows users who are not able to upgrade: 1. Avoid using any output template expansion in --exec other than {} (filepath). 2. If expansion in --exec is needed, verify the fields you are using do not contain ", | or &. 3. Instead of using --exec, write the info json and load the fields from it instead.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High8.4 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.3% · top 29% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.4.
Weakness
Affected products
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- PyPIyt-dlpGHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg (opens in a new tab)
References (5)
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2023.09.24.003044 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.04.11 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2023.09.24 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2023-40581)Record last updated .