High CVSS 8.8
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.
What this means
- Exposure
- Exploitable remotely over the network and without authentication — but only if a user opens booby-trapped content.
- Impact
- An attacker can read sensitive data, modify or destroy data and take the service offline.
- Weakness
- Unneutralised input is placed into a command that another component then interprets.
- Likelihood
- Its EPSS score stays low: nothing points to imminent exploitation, which is no reason to leave it unpatched.
What to doFold into the next patch cycle.
Read automatically from the CVSS vector, the weakness type (CWE) and the EPSS score. The technical description above remains the one published by NIST.