CVE-2026-26331

HIGH

yt-dlp 2023.06.21-2026.02.21 - Command Injection

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 2 public exploits for CVE-2026-26331. PoCs published by XiaomingX, dxlerYT.

AI-analyzed exploit summary The repository provides a detailed technical analysis of CVE-2026-26331, a command injection vulnerability in yt-dlp's `--netrc-cmd` option. It includes a functional PoC demonstrating arbitrary command execution via a maliciously crafted URL.

Description

yt-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.

Exploits (2)

github WRITEUP 10 stars
by XiaomingX · pythonpoc
https://github.com/XiaomingX/data-cve-poc-py-v1/tree/main/2026/CVE-2026-26331

The repository provides a detailed technical analysis of CVE-2026-26331, a command injection vulnerability in yt-dlp's `--netrc-cmd` option. It includes a functional PoC demonstrating arbitrary command execution via a maliciously crafted URL.

Classification
Writeup 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: yt-dlp >= 2023.06.21, < 2026.02.21
No auth needed
Prerequisites: yt-dlp installed · user interaction to execute the command
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 27, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WRITEUP 1 stars
by dxlerYT · poc
https://github.com/dxlerYT/CVE-2026-26331

The repository provides a detailed technical analysis of CVE-2026-26331, an arbitrary command injection vulnerability in yt-dlp via the `--netrc-cmd` option. It includes a proof-of-concept command demonstrating the exploit and discusses the root cause, impact, and mitigation strategies.

Classification
Writeup 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: yt-dlp >= 2023.06.21, < 2026.02.21
No auth needed
Prerequisites: yt-dlp installed with vulnerable version · user interaction to execute the malicious command
devstral-2 · analyzed Apr 28, 2026 Full analysis →

Scores

CVSS v3 8.8
EPSS 0.0022
EPSS Percentile 44.7%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Details

CWE
CWE-78
Status published
Products (2)
pypi/yt-dlp 2023.06.21 - 2026.02.21PyPI
yt-dlp_project/yt-dlp 2023.06.21 - 2026.02.21
Published Feb 24, 2026
Tracked Since Feb 24, 2026