Skip to main content
Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2026-50023

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2026-06-23
  • Fixed in2026.6.9
  • WeaknessCWE-641

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

yt-dlp is a command-line audio/video downloader. Prior to 2026.06.09, a vulnerability exists in yt-dlp that allows a remote attacker to write arbitrary OS-shortcut files (such as .desktop, .url, .webloc) to the user's filesystem, bypassing the remediation for CVE-2024-38519. The allowlist explicitly included the unsafe extensions .desktop, .url, and .webloc so that the functionality of the --write-link option (and its variants) could be preserved. These allowlist inclusions can be exploited by an attacker to write malicious OS-shortcut files in the context of a media or subtitles download. This vulnerability is fixed in 2026.06.09.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2026-06-2317:17CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2026-50023?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2026-50023?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

OSV · NVD
yt-dlp
BranchAffectedFixed in
2026.6< 2026.6.92026.6.9
Yt-dlp project yt-dlp
BranchAffectedFixed in
2026.6< 2026.06.092026.06.09

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

  1. Update yt-dlp to 2026.6.9

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionpoc2026-06-25
  • OpenCVESSVC decisionpoc—
  • CNACVSS 3.18.3read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 3.19.6read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-641read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score0.7 %2026-10-23
  • OSVaffected packages—

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2026-06-23
Last Modified
2026-06-26
NVD status
Analyzed

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-50023?

yt-dlp is a command-line audio/video downloader. Prior to 2026.06.09, a vulnerability exists in yt-dlp that allows a remote attacker to write arbitrary OS-shortcut files (such as .desktop, .url, .webloc) to the user's filesystem, bypassing the remediation for CVE-2024-38519. The allowlist explicitly included the unsafe extensions .desktop, .url, and .webloc so that the functionality of the --write-link option (and its variants) could be preserved. These allowlist inclusions can be exploited by an attacker to write malicious OS-shortcut files in the context of a media or subtitles download. This vulnerability is fixed in 2026.06.09.

Is CVE-2026-50023 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2026-50023, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-50023?

CVE-2026-50023 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.6 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Running yt-dlp? Hear about its next vulnerability

Surveillance reads the versions in your stack — a domain, a lockfile or a list — checks each CVE against the ranges its sources publish, and alerts you when one you run is exploited or enters CISA KEV. A version it cannot read stays « version not verified ».

Get alerts for this productCISA KEV additions, October 2026Search CVEs

No credit card required · No monthly cap on website lookups · 250 API requests/month

Go further

Related vulnerabilities

Same product first, then the same vendor advisory and the same publication week.

Back to CVE Database