yt-dlp and youtube-dl vulnerable to file system modification and RCE through improper file-extension sanitization

{
  "id": "4c33844fa899b9a4c53591ea4722ad55d6b937edc0dbef76487734c0ded71bc2",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-38519",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "yt-dlp and youtube-dl vulnerable to file system modification and RCE through improper file-extension sanitization",
    "summary": "`yt-dlp` and `youtube-dl` are command-line audio/video downloaders. Prior to the fixed versions, `yt-dlp` and `youtube-dl` do 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` and `youtube-dl` also read config from the working directory (and on Windows executables will be executed from the `yt-dlp` or `youtube-dl` directory), this could lead to arbitrary code being executed. `yt-dlp` version 2024.07.01 fixes this issue by whitelisting the allowed extensions. `youtube-dl` fixes this issue in commit `d42a222` on the `master` branch and in nightly builds tagged 2024-07-03 or later. This might mean some very uncommon extensions might not get downloaded, however it will also limit the possible exploitation surface. In addition to upgrading, have `.%(ext)s` at the end of the output template and make sure the user trusts the websites that they are downloading from. Also, make sure to never download to a directory within PATH or other sensitive locations like one's user directory, `system32`, or other binaries locations. For users who are not able to upgrade, keep the default output template (`-o \"%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`); make sure the extension of the media to download is a common video/audio/sub/... one; try to avoid the generic extractor; and/or use `--ignore-config --config-location ...` to not load config from common locations.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2024-38519",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "high",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2024-38519",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2024-38519",
        "GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j",
        "PYSEC-2026-2065"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "cd68258225dc813c74fbda4c4fda0c736d6fda10"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "cd68258225dc813c74fbda4c4fda0c736d6fda10"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "5ce582448ececb8d9c30c8c31f58330090ced03a"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "< 2024.07.01"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "2024.07.01"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                    "strategy": "StandardRange"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "5ce582448ececb8d9c30c8c31f58330090ced03a"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "cd68258225dc813c74fbda4c4fda0c736d6fda10"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_TAG",
                    "original_tag": "2024.07.01"
                  }
                ]
              }
            },
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "2b1bd292ae72fdea4ab731f93777a99b3729b31d"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "d42a222ed541b96649396ef00e19552aef0f09ec"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": ">= 2015.01.25"
                      },
                      {
                        "last_affected": "2021.12.17"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                    "strategy": "StandardRange"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "d42a222ed541b96649396ef00e19552aef0f09ec"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2024-38519.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:23.751472952Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2024.07.01",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2024/38xxx/CVE-2024-38519.json",
        "https://github.com/dirkf/youtube-dl/security/advisories/GHSA-22fp-mf44-f2mq",
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-38519",
        "https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2024-089_youtube-dl/",
        "https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2024-090_yt-dlp",
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/5ce582448ececb8d9c30c8c31f58330090ced03a",
        "https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/d42a222ed541b96649396ef00e19552aef0f09ec",
        "https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/pull/32830",
        "https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-669"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "unresolved_ranges": [
          {
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "introduced": "nightly"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "d42a222"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                "strategy": "ChangesAt"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2024/38xxx/CVE-2024-38519.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2024-38519",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 490018,
  "published_at": "2024-07-02T13:47:36.399+00:00"
}