yt-dlp — security advisory
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
- yt-dlp
- Affected versions
- 2021.12.01-1, 2021.12.27-1, 2022.01.21-1, 2022.02.04-1, 2022.03.08.1-1, 2022.04.08-1, 2023.07.06-1, 2023.10.13-1ubuntu1, 2023.11.16-1, 2023.12.30-1ubuntu1, 2024.03.10-1, 2024.04.09-1, 2025.03.27-1, 2025.04.30-1, 2025.05.22-1, 2025.06.09-1, 2025.06.25-1, 2025.06.30-1, 2025.07.21-1, 2025.08.11-1, 2025.08.20-1, 2025.08.22-1, 2025.08.27-1, 2025.09.05-1, 2025.09.23-1, 2025.10.22-1, 2025.11.12-1, 2025.12.08-1, 2026.01.31-1, 2026.03.17-1, 2026.06.09-1, 2026.07.04-1, 2026.08.19-1
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2026-26331
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 31 Oct 2026, 00:56 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
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:UBUNTU-CVE-2026-26331
yt-dlp
Fixed versions: Not specified
yt-dlp
Fixed versions: Not specified
yt-dlp
Fixed versions: Not specified
yt-dlp
Fixed versions: Not specified
yt-dlp
Fixed versions: Not specified
Complete source record
{
"id": "6ef03161282c3f054008f194a79741fa698154a768eacb57a9e26c7b60f9993f",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-26331",
"method": "structured",
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"title": "UBUNTU-CVE-2026-26331",
"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.",
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