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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| yt-dlp | yt-dlp | >= 2021.04.11, < 2023.09.24, < nightly 2023.09.24.003044 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.24 | yt-dlp | 0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.23 | yt-dlp | 0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.22 | yt-dlp | 0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.21 | yt-dlp | 0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.20 | yt-dlp | 0-r0 | — |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.19 | yt-dlp | 2023.09.24-r0 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PyPI | yt-dlp | >= 2021.04.11, < 2023.09.24 | 2023.09.24 | GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg |
References
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2023.09.24.003044
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.04.11
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2023.09.24