UBUNTU-CVE-2026-55404 (CVE-2026-55404)

Vulnerability from osv_ubuntu – Published: 2026-07-08 20:16 – Updated: 2026-10-17 09:45 – Source website
VLAI
Details

yt-dlp and youtube-dl are command-line audio/video downloaders. Prior to 2026.7.4, the --write-link, --write-url-link, and --write-desktop-link options can write .url or .desktop shortcut files using attacker-controlled webpage_url or filename metadata without sufficient validation or escaping, allowing malicious file:// URI injection on Windows or newline-based desktop entry key injection on Linux that can execute commands if the generated shortcut is opened. This issue is fixed in version 2026.7.4.

Severity
7.5 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.8 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
N/A (UNKNOWN)
medium
References
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "youtube-dl",
            "binary_version": "2016.02.22-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:16.04:LTS",
        "name": "youtube-dl",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/youtube-dl@2016.02.22-1?arch=source\u0026distro=xenial"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "2015.06.04.1-1",
        "2015.11.10-1",
        "2015.11.27.1-1",
        "2015.11.27.1-1.1",
        "2016.02.09-0ubuntu1",
        "2016.02.22-1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "youtube-dl",
            "binary_version": "2018.03.14-1ubuntu18.04.1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:18.04:LTS",
        "name": "youtube-dl",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/youtube-dl@2018.03.14-1ubuntu18.04.1?arch=source\u0026distro=bionic"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "2017.09.24-0.1",
        "2017.10.15.1-1",
        "2017.11.06-1",
        "2017.12.31-1",
        "2018.01.27-1",
        "2018.03.14-1",
        "2018.03.14-1ubuntu18.04.1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "youtube-dl",
            "binary_version": "2020.03.24-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:20.04:LTS",
        "name": "youtube-dl",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/youtube-dl@2020.03.24-1?arch=source\u0026distro=focal"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "2019.09.28-1",
        "2020.01.24-0.1",
        "2020.03.08-0ubuntu1",
        "2020.03.24-0ubuntu1",
        "2020.03.24-1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "youtube-dl",
            "binary_version": "2021.12.17-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:22.04:LTS",
        "name": "youtube-dl",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/youtube-dl@2021.12.17-1?arch=source\u0026distro=jammy"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "2021.06.06-1",
        "2021.12.17-1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "yt-dlp",
            "binary_version": "2022.04.08-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:22.04:LTS",
        "name": "yt-dlp",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/yt-dlp@2022.04.08-1?arch=source\u0026distro=jammy"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "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"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "yt-dlp",
            "binary_version": "2024.04.09-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:24.04:LTS",
        "name": "yt-dlp",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/yt-dlp@2024.04.09-1?arch=source\u0026distro=noble"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "2023.07.06-1",
        "2023.10.13-1ubuntu1",
        "2023.11.16-1",
        "2023.12.30-1ubuntu1",
        "2024.03.10-1",
        "2024.04.09-1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "yt-dlp",
            "binary_version": "2025.09.23-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:25.10",
        "name": "yt-dlp",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/yt-dlp@2025.09.23-1?arch=source\u0026distro=questing"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "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"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "yt-dlp",
            "binary_version": "2026.08.19-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:26.10",
        "name": "yt-dlp",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/yt-dlp@2026.08.19-1?arch=source\u0026distro=stonking"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "2026.03.17-1",
        "2026.06.09-1",
        "2026.07.04-1",
        "2026.08.19-1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "yt-dlp",
            "binary_version": "2026.03.17-1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:26.04:LTS",
        "name": "yt-dlp",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/yt-dlp@2026.03.17-1?arch=source\u0026distro=resolute"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "2025.09.23-1",
        "2025.10.22-1",
        "2025.11.12-1",
        "2025.12.08-1",
        "2026.01.31-1",
        "2026.03.17-1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "details": "yt-dlp and youtube-dl are command-line audio/video downloaders. Prior to 2026.7.4, the --write-link, --write-url-link, and --write-desktop-link options can write .url or .desktop shortcut files using attacker-controlled webpage_url or filename metadata without sufficient validation or escaping, allowing malicious file:// URI injection on Windows or newline-based desktop entry key injection on Linux that can execute commands if the generated shortcut is opened. This issue is fixed in version 2026.7.4.",
  "id": "UBUNTU-CVE-2026-55404",
  "modified": "2026-10-17T09:45:55Z",
  "published": "2026-07-08T20:16:00Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-55404"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-55404"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/b6590aaa1e3808155d69c9a79a797ae484163789"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-6v4j-43gg-vj32"
    }
  ],
  "related": [],
  "schema_version": "1.7.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "medium",
      "type": "Ubuntu"
    }
  ],
  "upstream": [
    "CVE-2026-55404"
  ]
}



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