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Fencer Intel
high 7.5

CVE-2026-55404 json

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

published 4mo ago modified 3mo ago also EUVD-2026-42368 , GHSA-6v4j-43gg-vj32 , PYSEC-2026-3622

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.6%
EPSS 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 51%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • pypi yt-dlp 2026.7.4
  • youtube-dlc_project youtube-dlc 2026.7.4
  • yt-dl youtube-dl 2026.7.4
  • yt-dlp-nightly-builds_project yt-dlp-nightly-builds 2026.7.4
  • yt-dlp_project yt-dlp 2026.7.4
  • yt-dlp Debian 14 2026.07.04-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-55404

  • yt-dlp openSUSE Leap 16.0 2026.08.19-bp160.1.1
  • yt-dlp openSUSE Tumbleweed 2026.07.04-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:22142-1openSUSE-SU-2026:11196-1

Is CVE-2026-55404 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-55404 updated cvss 7.5

yt-dlp: youtube-dl: yt-dlp/youtube-dl: Arbitrary Code Execution via Malicious Shortcut File Generation

  • Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
4mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.64% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 51% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
GitHub 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
OSV 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi yt-dlp
<2026.7.4
2026.7.4

Affected products

  • yt-dlp yt-dlp

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-74 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

The maintainers of yt-dlp/yt-dlp published their own advisory on GitHub. Reviewed sources take precedence over it.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.