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CVE-2023-40581 — yt-dlp command injection when using `%q` in `--exec` on Windows

2026-10-01T20:49:04.473902+00:00

Affected: yt-dlp, yt-dlp_project yt-dlp

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 expa…

GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg — yt-dlp on Windows vulnerable to `--exec` command injection when using `%q`

2026-10-01T20:49:04.474048+00:00

Affected: PyPI: yt-dlp

### Impact [`yt-dlp`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/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](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.04.11).

```shell > 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( [Jo66yyC…

PYSEC-2026-2064 — yt-dlp on Windows vulnerable to `--exec` command injection when using `%q`

2026-10-01T20:49:04.474126+00:00

Affected: PyPI: yt-dlp

Support for output template expansion in `--exec`, along with this vulnerable behavior, was added to `yt-dlp` in version [2021.04.11](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.04.11).