{"id":"CVE-2023-40581","summary":"yt-dlp command injection when using `%q` in `--exec` on Windows","details":"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.\n","aliases":["GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg","PYSEC-2026-2064"],"modified":"2026-10-24T10:50:52.985441167Z","published":"2023-09-25T18:54:00.204Z","database_specific":{"cwe_ids":["CWE-78"],"osv_generated_from":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40581.json","cna_assigner":"GitHub_M"},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2023.09.24.003044"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.04.11"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2023.09.24"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40581.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40581"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e"}],"affected":[{"ranges":[{"type":"GIT","repo":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp","events":[{"introduced":"a0f30f194ad6b8e6c56a37df9469ca51f3812692"},{"fixed":"c54ddfba0f7d68034339426223d75373c5fc86df"},{"fixed":"de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e"},{"fixed":"a0f30f194ad6b8e6c56a37df9469ca51f3812692"}],"database_specific":{"extracted_events":[{"cpe":"cpe:2.3:a:yt-dlp_project:yt-dlp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","range":[{"introduced":"2021.04.11"},{"fixed":"2023.09.24"}],"source":"CPE_RANGE"},{"range":[{"fixed":"de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e"}],"source":"REFERENCES_COMMIT"},{"range":[{"fixed":"a0f30f194ad6b8e6c56a37df9469ca51f3812692"}],"source":"REFERENCES_TAG","original_tag":"2021.04.11"},{"original_tag":"2023.09.24","range":[{"fixed":"c54ddfba0f7d68034339426223d75373c5fc86df"}],"source":"REFERENCES_TAG"}]}},{"type":"GIT","repo":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"496c0e4319db4359aebd8d3270b681c890cafa28"}],"database_specific":{"extracted_events":[{"range":[{"introduced":"2021.04.11"},{"fixed":"2023.09.24"}],"source":"AFFECTED_FIELD","strategy":"StringRangeExpression"},{"source":"AFFECTED_FIELD","strategy":"StringRangeExpression","range":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"nightly2023.09.24.003044"}]},{"range":[{"fixed":"496c0e4319db4359aebd8d3270b681c890cafa28"}],"source":"REFERENCES_TAG","original_tag":"2023.09.24.003044"}]}}],"versions":["2023.03.04.133528","2023.03.04.070258","2023.03.03.195451"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-40581.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"}]}