CVE-2026-55404

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.

Score

CVSS 3.1 8.8 High

Status

Analyzed - security-advisories@github.com

Published

2026-07-08

Last modified

2026-07-09

Weaknesses

CWE-74

Affected products

• Yt-dlp (Yt-dlp)
• Yt-dlp (Yt-dlp Project)

References

• https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/b6590aaa1e3808155d69c9a79a797ae484163789
• https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.07.04
• https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-6v4j-43gg-vj32