Description
yt-dlp is a command-line audio/video downloader. Prior to 2026.06.09, a vulnerability exists in yt-dlp that allows a remote attacker to write arbitrary OS-shortcut files (such as .desktop, .url, .webloc) to the user's filesystem, bypassing the remediation for CVE-2024-38519. The allowlist explicitly included the unsafe extensions .desktop, .url, and .webloc so that the functionality of the --write-link option (and its variants) could be preserved. These allowlist inclusions can be exploited by an attacker to write malicious OS-shortcut files in the context of a media or subtitles download. This vulnerability is fixed in 2026.06.09.
CVSS breakdown
CVSS 3.1
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Affected products
- yt-dlp / yt-dlp< 2026.06.09 – < 2026.06.09
References
- VENDOR_ADVISORYhttps://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-c6mh-fpjc-4pr3
- PATCHhttps://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/e578e265f7c6ca94a74b30e0d8d6196a4d19fb6a
- PATCHhttps://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2026.06.09.230517
- PATCHhttps://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09