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.
Find out more about CVE-2023-40581 from the MITRE-CVE dictionary and NIST NVD
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| Product Name | Status | Defect | Fixed | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | ||||
| Wind River Linux LTS 17 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux 8 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux 9 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux 7 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux LTS 21 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux LTS 22 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux LTS 18 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux LTS 19 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux CD release | N/A | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux 6 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Wind River Linux LTS 23 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| VxWorks | ||||
| VxWorks 7 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| VxWorks 6.9 | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Helix Virtualization Platform Cert Edition | ||||
| Helix Virtualization Platform Cert Edition | Not Vulnerable | -- | -- | -- |
| Product Name | Status | Defect | Fixed | Downloads |
|---|
