CVE-2026-26331

NameCVE-2026-26331
Descriptionyt-dlp is a command-line audio/video downloader. Starting in version 2023.06.21 and prior to version 2026.02.21, when yt-dlp's `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter) is used, an attacker could achieve arbitrary command injection on the user's system with a maliciously crafted URL. yt-dlp maintainers assume the impact of this vulnerability to be high for anyone who uses `--netrc-cmd` in their command/configuration or `netrc_cmd` in their Python scripts. Even though the maliciously crafted URL itself will look very suspicious to many users, it would be trivial for a maliciously crafted webpage with an inconspicuous URL to covertly exploit this vulnerability via HTTP redirect. Users without `--netrc-cmd` in their arguments or `netrc_cmd` in their scripts are unaffected. No evidence has been found of this exploit being used in the wild. yt-dlp version 2026.02.21 fixes this issue by validating all netrc "machine" values and raising an error upon unexpected input. As a workaround, users who are unable to upgrade should avoid using the `--netrc-cmd` command-line option (or `netrc_cmd` Python API parameter), or they should at least not pass a placeholder (`{}`) in their `--netrc-cmd` argument.
SourceCVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source PackageReleaseVersionStatus
yt-dlp (PTS)bookworm2023.03.04-1fixed
trixie2025.04.30-1vulnerable
forky, sid2026.02.21-1fixed

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

PackageTypeReleaseFixed VersionUrgencyOriginDebian Bugs
yt-dlpsourcebookworm(not affected)
yt-dlpsource(unstable)2026.02.21-1

Notes

[bookworm] - yt-dlp <not-affected> (Vulnerable code introduced later)
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-g3gw-q23r-pgqm
Introduced with: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/db3ad8a67661d7b234a6954d9c6a4a9b1749f5eb (2023.06.21)
Fixed by: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/1fbbe29b99dc61375bf6d786f824d9fcf6ea9c1a (2026.02.21)

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