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yt-dlp: Arbitrary Command Injection when using the `--netrc-cmd` option

Type: advisorySources: OSV

yt-dlp is a command-line audio/video downloader. Starting in version 2023.06.21 and prior to version 2026.02.21, when yt-dlp's `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter) is used, an attacker could achieve arbitrary command injection on the user's system with a maliciously crafted URL. yt-dlp maintainers assume the impact of this vulnerability to be high for anyone who uses `--netrc-cmd` in their command/configuration or `netrc_cmd` in their Python scripts. Even though the maliciously crafted URL itself will look very suspicious to many users, it would be trivial for a maliciously crafted webpage with an inconspicuous URL to covertly exploit this vulnerability via HTTP redirect. Users without `--netrc-cmd` in their arguments or `netrc_cmd` in their scripts are unaffected. No evidence has been found of this exploit being used in the wild. yt-dlp version 2026.02.21 fixes this issue by validating all netrc "machine" values and raising an error upon unexpected input. As a workaround, users who are unable to upgrade should avoid using the `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter), or they should at least not pass a placeholder (`{}`) in their `--netrc-cmd` argument.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2026-26331
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
5 Nov 2026, 03:31 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

yt-dlp: Arbitrary Command Injection when using the `--netrc-cmd` option

core-osv · Original source

Published 24 Feb 2026, 02:23 UTC

yt-dlp is a command-line audio/video downloader. Starting in version 2023.06.21 and prior to version 2026.02.21, when yt-dlp's `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter) is used, an attacker could achieve arbitrary command injection on the user's system with a maliciously crafted URL. yt-dlp maintainers assume the impact of this vulnerability to be high for anyone who uses `--netrc-cmd` in their command/configuration or `netrc_cmd` in their Python scripts. Even though the maliciously crafted URL itself will look very suspicious to many users, it would be trivial for a maliciously crafted webpage with an inconspicuous URL to covertly exploit this vulnerability via HTTP redirect. Users without `--netrc-cmd` in their arguments or `netrc_cmd` in their scripts are unaffected. No evidence has been found of this exploit being used in the wild. yt-dlp version 2026.02.21 fixes this issue by validating all netrc "machine" values and raising an error upon unexpected input. As a workaround, users who are unable to upgrade should avoid using the `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter), or they should at least not pass a placeholder (`{}`) in their `--netrc-cmd` argument.

osv:CVE-2026-26331
Complete source record
{
  "id": "a0cd7d1b9e3ea0d10f6282265935216ae3df9c9c3cf1c222c25a61596280963a",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-26331",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "yt-dlp: Arbitrary Command Injection when using the `--netrc-cmd` option",
    "summary": "yt-dlp is a command-line audio/video downloader. Starting in version 2023.06.21 and prior to version 2026.02.21, when yt-dlp's `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter) is used, an attacker could achieve arbitrary command injection on the user's system with a maliciously crafted URL. yt-dlp maintainers assume the impact of this vulnerability to be high for anyone who uses `--netrc-cmd` in their command/configuration or `netrc_cmd` in their Python scripts. Even though the maliciously crafted URL itself will look very suspicious to many users, it would be trivial for a maliciously crafted webpage with an inconspicuous URL to covertly exploit this vulnerability via HTTP redirect. Users without `--netrc-cmd` in their arguments or `netrc_cmd` in their scripts are unaffected. No evidence has been found of this exploit being used in the wild. yt-dlp version 2026.02.21 fixes this issue by validating all netrc \"machine\" values and raising an error upon unexpected input. As a workaround, users who are unable to upgrade should avoid using the `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter), or they should at least not pass a placeholder (`{}`) in their `--netrc-cmd` argument.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-26331",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "high",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2026-26331",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2026-26331",
        "GHSA-g3gw-q23r-pgqm",
        "PYSEC-2026-3432"
      ],
      "metrics": [
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          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
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              "database_specific": {
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                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
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                    "source": "REFERENCES_TAG",
                    "original_tag": "2026.02.21"
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          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-26331.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:42.102370699Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.02.21",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/26xxx/CVE-2026-26331.json",
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-g3gw-q23r-pgqm",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-26331",
        "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/1fbbe29b99dc61375bf6d786f824d9fcf6ea9c1a"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
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        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/26xxx/CVE-2026-26331.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2026-26331",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 509873,
  "published_at": "2026-02-24T02:23:40.858+00:00"
}