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

First published: Mon Sep 25 2023(Updated: )

### 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( [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 - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40581 - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2023.09.24 - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2023.09.24.003044 - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e

Credit: security-advisories@github.com security-advisories@github.com security-advisories@github.com

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