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CVE PROGRAM SOURCE RECORD7.5 High

CVE-2026-55404

yt-dlp: Downstream command injection via improper sanitization of yt-dlp --write-link output

Description

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.

Affected products

Version statuses are supplied by the assigning organization. Consult the original record for detailed ranges and platform conditions.

yt-dlp yt-dlp

  • < 2026.7.4affected

References