{"id":"PYSEC-2026-2065","summary":"yt-dlp File system modification and RCE through improper file-extension sanitization","details":"### Summary\n`yt-dlp` does not limit the extensions of downloaded files, which could lead to arbitrary filenames being created in the download folder (and path traversal on Windows). Since `yt-dlp` also reads config from the working directory (and on Windows executables will be executed from the yt-dlp directory) this could lead to arbitrary code being executed.\n\n### Patches\n`yt-dlp` version 2024.07.01 fixes this issue by whitelisting the allowed extensions.\nThis means some very uncommon extensions might not get downloaded; however, it will also limit the possible exploitation surface.\n\n### Workarounds\nIt is recommended to upgrade yt-dlp to version 2024.07.01 as soon as possible, **always** have `.%(ext)s` at the end of the output template, and make sure you trust the websites that you are downloading from. Also, make sure to never download to a directory within PATH or other sensitive locations like your user directory, `system32`, or other binaries locations.\n\nFor users not able to upgrade:\n- Make sure the extension of the media to download is a common video/audio/sub/... one\n- Try to avoid the generic extractor (`--ies default,-generic`)\n- Keep the default output template (`-o \"%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`)\n- Omit any of the subtitle options (`--write-subs`, `--write-auto-subs`, `--all-subs`, `--write-srt`)\n- Use `--ignore-config --config-location ...` to not load config from common locations\n\n### Details\nOne potential exploitation might look like this:\n\nFrom a mimetype we do not know, we default to trimming the leading bit and using the remainder. Given a webpage that contains\n```html\n\u003cscript type=\"application/ld+json\"\u003e\n{\n    \"@context\": \"https://schema.org\",\n    \"@type\": \"VideoObject\",\n    \"name\": \"ffmpeg\",\n    \"encodingFormat\": \"video/exe\",\n    \"contentUrl\": \"https://example.com/video.mp4\"\n}\n\u003c/script\u003e\n```\nthis will try and download a file called `ffmpeg.exe` (`-o \"%(title)s.%(ext)s`).\n`ffmpeg.exe` will be searched for in the current directory, and so upon the next run arbitrary code can be executed.\n\nAlternatively, when engineering a file called `yt-dlp.conf` to be created, the config file could contain `--exec ...` and so would also execute arbitrary code.\n\n### Acknowledgement\nA big thanks to @JarLob for independently finding a new application of the same underlying issue.\nMore can be read about on the dedicated GitHub Security Lab disclosure here: [Path traversal saving subtitles (GHSL-2024-090)](\u003chttps://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2024-090_yt-dlp\u003e)\n\n### References\n- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j\n- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-38519\n- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2024.07.01\n- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/5ce582448ececb8d9c30c8c31f58330090ced03a\n- https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2024-090_yt-dlp\n","aliases":["CVE-2024-38519","GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j"],"modified":"2026-07-07T17:47:49.330190706Z","published":"2026-07-07T14:34:36.149029Z","references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/dirkf/youtube-dl/security/advisories/GHSA-22fp-mf44-f2mq"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-38519"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/pull/32830"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/5ce582448ececb8d9c30c8c31f58330090ced03a"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/d42a222ed541b96649396ef00e19552aef0f09ec"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2024.07.01"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2024-089_youtube-dl"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2024-090_yt-dlp"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"yt-dlp","ecosystem":"PyPI","purl":"pkg:pypi/yt-dlp"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"2024.07.01"}]}],"versions":["2021.1.15","2021.1.15.post1","2021.1.16","2021.1.20","2021.1.24","2021.1.24.post1","2021.1.29","2021.10.10","2021.10.22","2021.10.9","2021.11.10","2021.11.10.1","2021.12.1","2021.12.25","2021.12.27","2021.2.15","2021.2.19","2021.2.24","2021.2.4","2021.2.9","2021.3.1","2021.3.15","2021.3.21","2021.3.24","2021.3.24.1","2021.3.3","2021.3.3.1","2021.3.3.2","2021.3.7","2021.4.11","2021.4.22","2021.4.3","2021.5.11","2021.5.20","2021.6.1","2021.6.23","2021.6.8","2021.6.9","2021.7.21","2021.7.24","2021.7.7","2021.8.10","2021.8.2","2021.9.1","2021.9.2","2021.9.25","2022.1.21","2022.10.4","2022.11.11","2022.2.3","2022.2.4","2022.3.8","2022.3.8.1","2022.3.8.2","2022.4.8","2022.5.18","2022.6.22","2022.6.22.1","2022.6.29","2022.7.17","2022.7.18","2022.8.14","2022.8.19","2022.8.8","2022.9.1","2023.1.2","2023.1.6","2023.10.13","2023.10.7","2023.11.13.232715.dev0","2023.11.13.5826.dev0","2023.11.14","2023.11.15.232826.dev0","2023.11.16","2023.11.16.232727.dev0","2023.11.18.232705.dev0","2023.11.19.232719.dev0","2023.11.20.232729.dev0","2023.11.26.232703.dev0","2023.11.28.232715.dev0","2023.11.29.232714.dev0","2023.12.12.232727.dev0","2023.12.13.232710.dev0","2023.12.17.232710.dev0","2023.12.18.232711.dev0","2023.12.19.232701.dev0","2023.12.20.232717.dev0","2023.12.21.232720.dev0","2023.12.22.232735.dev0","2023.12.24.232657.dev0","2023.12.26.232752.dev0","2023.12.30","2023.12.30.232719.dev0","2023.12.31.232713.dev0","2023.12.5.232702.dev0","2023.12.6.232721.dev0","2023.2.17","2023.3.3","2023.3.4","2023.6.21","2023.6.22","2023.7.6","2023.9.24","2024.1.14.232710.dev0","2024.1.18.232658.dev0","2024.1.19.232708.dev0","2024.1.2.232714.dev0","2024.1.20.232722.dev0","2024.1.21.232719.dev0","2024.1.22.232713.dev0","2024.1.23.232723.dev0","2024.1.28.232706.dev0","2024.1.29.232706.dev0","2024.1.31.232703.dev0","2024.1.5.232702.dev0","2024.1.8.232709.dev0","2024.1.9.232723.dev0","2024.2.13.232701.dev0","2024.2.14.232704.dev0","2024.2.15.232705.dev0","2024.2.16.232705.dev0","2024.2.17.232706.dev0","2024.2.18.232707.dev0","2024.2.19.232703.dev0","2024.2.2.232707.dev0","2024.2.20.232712.dev0","2024.2.21.232721.dev0","2024.2.22.232849.dev0","2024.2.23.232656.dev0","2024.2.24.232815.dev0","2024.2.25.232703.dev0","2024.2.28.232744.dev0","2024.2.29.232658.dev0","2024.2.3.232712.dev0","2024.2.4.232659.dev0","2024.2.5.232712.dev0","2024.2.9.232659.dev0","2024.3.10","2024.3.10.232703.dev0","2024.3.14.232657.dev0","2024.3.17.232657.dev0","2024.3.18.232707.dev0","2024.3.19.232701.dev0","2024.3.2.232720.dev0","2024.3.20.232704.dev0","2024.3.22.232703.dev0","2024.3.29.232706.dev0","2024.3.3.232706.dev0","2024.3.30.232704.dev0","2024.3.31.232706.dev0","2024.3.4.232716.dev0","2024.3.6.232659.dev0","2024.3.7.232716.dev0","2024.3.8.232718.dev0","2024.3.9.232714.dev0","2024.4.1.232704.dev0","2024.4.13.232802.dev0","2024.4.18.232703.dev0","2024.4.20.232659.dev0","2024.4.21.232710.dev0","2024.4.28.232723.dev0","2024.4.3.233315.dev0","2024.4.4.232729.dev0","2024.4.6.232655.dev0","2024.4.7.232657.dev0","2024.4.8.232708.dev0","2024.4.9","2024.4.9.232723.dev0","2024.5.10.232705.dev0","2024.5.11.232654.dev0","2024.5.12.232709.dev0","2024.5.13.232704.dev0","2024.5.16.232713.dev0","2024.5.17.232726.dev0","2024.5.18.232655.dev0","2024.5.20.232721.dev0","2024.5.22.232749.dev0","2024.5.23.232707.dev0","2024.5.25.232709.dev0","2024.5.26","2024.5.26.232731.dev0","2024.5.27","2024.5.27.232744.dev0","2024.5.29.232700.dev0","2024.5.30.232720.dev0","2024.5.4.232706.dev0","2024.5.5.232701.dev0","2024.5.8.232715.dev0","2024.6.1.232725.dev0","2024.6.11.232712.dev0","2024.6.13.232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