Command injection via unvalidated netrc machine value
Published Feb 24, 2026 · Updated Feb 24, 2026
Command injection in yt-dlp before 2026.02.21 allows remote attackers to execute shell commands through a crafted media URL. The netrc credential lookup substitutes an extractor-derived machine value into the configured netrc command and invokes it through subprocess.Popen with shell=True without neutralizing shell metacharacters. Exploitation requires the netrc command option or API parameter with its placeholder and user interaction with attacker-controlled content; an HTTP redirect can conceal the final malicious URL.
Summary
What happened
Command injection in yt-dlp before 2026.02.21 allows remote attackers to execute shell commands through a crafted media URL. The netrc credential lookup substitutes an extractor-derived machine value into the configured netrc command and invokes it through subprocess.Popen with shell=True without neutralizing shell metacharacters. Exploitation requires the netrc command option or API parameter with its placeholder and user interaction with attacker-controlled content; an HTTP redirect can conceal the final malicious URL.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-26331
- Published
- Feb 24, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 24, 2026
- Vendor
- yt-dlp
- Product
- yt-dlp
- Classifications
- CWE-78, T1059, T1204.001
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=>= 2023.06.21, < 2026.02.21
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Upstream netrc command injection proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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