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CVE-2023-40581

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

8.4 HighFix available

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.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
Required

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

1.34%Up 1.1 points since Sep 26, 2023
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 8.4

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

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.

Record
CVE-2023-40581
CVSS 3.1
8.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-78
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-2412 8.4

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.

Record
EUVD-2023-2412
CVSS 3.1
8.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg 8.3

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

Impact

yt-dlp allows the user to provide shell commands to be executed at various stages in its download process through the --exec flag. This flag allows output template expansion in its argument, so that video 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) did 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 https://youtu.be/Jo66yyCpHcQ --exec "echo %(title)q"
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://youtu.be/Jo66yyCpHcQ
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading ios player API JSON
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading 1 format(s): 135+251
[download] Destination: ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f135.mp4
[download] 100% of    4.85KiB in 00:00:00 at 60.20KiB/s
[download] Destination: ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f251.webm
[download] 100% of    4.80KiB in 00:00:00 at 31.58KiB/s
[Merger] Merging formats into "＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].mkv"
Deleting original file ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f135.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f251.webm (pass -k to keep)
[Exec] Executing command: echo "\"&echo(&echo(pwned&rem("
"\"

pwned

Patches

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.

Workarounds

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:

  • Avoid using any output template expansion in --exec other than {} (filepath).
  • If expansion in --exec is needed, verify the fields you are using do not contain ", | or &.
  • Instead of using --exec, write the info json and load the fields from it instead.

References

Record
GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-78
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 8.3

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.

Record
CVE-2023-40581
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 3.1
7.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-78
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVALPINE-CVE-2023-40581 7.8

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.

Record
ALPINE-CVE-2023-40581
CVSS 3.1
7.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-03
OSV 8.3

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

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.

Record
CVE-2023-40581
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-78
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg 8.3

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

Impact

yt-dlp allows the user to provide shell commands to be executed at various stages in its download process through the --exec flag. This flag allows output template expansion in its argument, so that video 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) did 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 https://youtu.be/Jo66yyCpHcQ --exec "echo %(title)q"
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://youtu.be/Jo66yyCpHcQ
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading ios player API JSON
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading 1 format(s): 135+251
[download] Destination: ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f135.mp4
[download] 100% of    4.85KiB in 00:00:00 at 60.20KiB/s
[download] Destination: ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f251.webm
[download] 100% of    4.80KiB in 00:00:00 at 31.58KiB/s
[Merger] Merging formats into "＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].mkv"
Deleting original file ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f135.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f251.webm (pass -k to keep)
[Exec] Executing command: echo "\"&echo(&echo(pwned&rem("
"\"

pwned

Patches

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.

Workarounds

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:

  • Avoid using any output template expansion in --exec other than {} (filepath).
  • If expansion in --exec is needed, verify the fields you are using do not contain ", | or &.
  • Instead of using --exec, write the info json and load the fields from it instead.

References

Record
GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-78
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2026-2064 8.3

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

Impact

yt-dlp allows the user to provide shell commands to be executed at various stages in its download process through the --exec flag. This flag allows output template expansion in its argument, so that video 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) did 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 https://youtu.be/Jo66yyCpHcQ --exec "echo %(title)q"
[youtube] Extracting URL: https://youtu.be/Jo66yyCpHcQ
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading ios player API JSON
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading m3u8 information
[info] Jo66yyCpHcQ: Downloading 1 format(s): 135+251
[download] Destination: ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f135.mp4
[download] 100% of    4.85KiB in 00:00:00 at 60.20KiB/s
[download] Destination: ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f251.webm
[download] 100% of    4.80KiB in 00:00:00 at 31.58KiB/s
[Merger] Merging formats into "＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].mkv"
Deleting original file ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f135.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file ＂&echo(&echo(pwned&rem( [Jo66yyCpHcQ].f251.webm (pass -k to keep)
[Exec] Executing command: echo "\"&echo(&echo(pwned&rem("
"\"

pwned

Patches

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.

Workarounds

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:

  • Avoid using any output template expansion in --exec other than {} (filepath).
  • If expansion in --exec is needed, verify the fields you are using do not contain ", | or &.
  • Instead of using --exec, write the info json and load the fields from it instead.

References

Record
PYSEC-2026-2064
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
yt-dlp
PyPI
 2021.04.11 up to 2023.09.24
2023.09.24
yt-dlp
Alpine:v3.19
 2021.04.11 up to 2023.09.24-r0
2023.09.24-r0
yt-dlp
Alpine:v3.20
 2021.04.11 up to 0-r0
0-r0
yt-dlp
Alpine:v3.21
 2021.04.11 up to 0-r0
0-r0
yt-dlp
Alpine:v3.22
 2021.04.11 up to 0-r0
0-r0
yt-dlp
Alpine:v3.23
 2021.04.11 up to 0-r0
0-r0
yt-dlp
Alpine:v3.24
 2021.04.11 up to 0-r0
0-r0
yt-dlp
PyPI
 2021.04.11 up to 2023.09.24, plus listed versions
2021.10.102021.10.222021.10.92021.11.102021.11.10.1
Show 45 moreShow less
2021.12.12021.12.252021.12.272021.4.112021.4.222021.5.112021.5.202021.6.12021.6.232021.6.82021.6.92021.7.212021.7.242021.7.72021.8.102021.8.22021.9.12021.9.22021.9.252022.1.212022.10.42022.11.112022.2.32022.2.42022.3.82022.3.8.12022.3.8.22022.4.82022.5.182022.6.222022.6.22.12022.6.292022.7.172022.7.182022.8.142022.8.192022.8.82022.9.12023.1.22023.1.62023.2.172023.3.32023.3.42023.6.212023.6.22
2023.09.24

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
affected, aliases, referencesOSV
aliasesEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2023-40581 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.4) in Yt-dlp, published September 25, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.34%, the 71st percentile. Fixed in yt-dlp 2023.09.24.

References

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