yt-dlp command injection when using `%q` in `--exec` on Windows

{
  "id": "8c82d581dc21b2caf98b95fa4c892d36ff5e3313c82d17dedf163a80e311b589",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-40581",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "yt-dlp command injection when using `%q` in `--exec` on Windows",
    "summary": "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 expan",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2023-40581",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "high",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2023-40581",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2023-40581",
        "GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg",
        "PYSEC-2026-2064"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp",
              "type": "GIT",
              "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"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "c54ddfba0f7d68034339426223d75373c5fc86df"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_TAG",
                    "original_tag": "2023.09.24"
                  }
                ]
              }
            },
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "496c0e4319db4359aebd8d3270b681c890cafa28"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "2021.04.11"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "2023.09.24"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                    "strategy": "StringRangeExpression"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "nightly2023.09.24.003044"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                    "strategy": "StringRangeExpression"
                  },
                  {
                    "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"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:27.124538519Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "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",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40581.json",
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40581",
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-78"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40581.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2023-40581",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 493936,
  "published_at": "2023-09-25T18:54:00.204+00:00"
}