CVE-2023-405818.4HighCWE-78

CVE-2023-40581: yt-dlp command injection when using `%q` in `--exec` on Windows

yt-dlp

Affected: yt-dlp · Exploitation: possible (1 to 10%)

Not in CyberSIXT coverage yet: no article names this CVE. This page shows the public record.

1.3%probability of exploitation in the next 30 days

71st percentile

050100

Higher than 71% of scored CVEs

8.4HighCVSS 3.1

LowMediumHighCrit.

DescriptionCVE.org

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.

Affected products1

From the CVE record. A product or version that is not listed is unknown, not unaffected.

yt-dlp · yt-dlp>= 2021.04.11, < 2023.09.24; < nightly 2023.09.24.003044

On the Atlas

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Open the Atlas

Exploitation: Possible (1 to 10%). EPSS between 1% and 10%.
CISA KEV: Not listed
Public check: No public nuclei template
Weakness: OS Command Injection · Command and Code Injection
Vendor: yt-dlp
Published: September 2023
Band: Possible (1 to 10%), September 2023

CoverageNo articles yet

No CyberSIXT article names CVE-2023-40581 yet, so there is no coverage timeline, action brief or change log for it. Everything on this page comes from the public CVE record, CISA KEV, EPSS and the nuclei template index. Search the archive or see the CVEs in the news.