Is this vulnerability remotely exploitable?

Yes, in practice it can be remotely triggered when yt-dlp is run with `--netrc-cmd` or `netrc_cmd` and processes attacker-controlled URLs or redirects, allowing the attacker to influence the machine value used in the command.

What level of access does an attacker need?

The attacker needs the ability to supply or control the URL that yt-dlp processes, either directly (e.g., a user pastes a malicious URL) or indirectly via redirects from a seemingly benign URL. They do not need local access to the victim's machine.

What is the safest general fix pattern?

The robust fix pattern is to validate machine/host identifiers against a strict allowlist, avoid shell interpolation of untrusted data, and, where commands must be used, supply untrusted values as properly escaped arguments rather than embedded strings.

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(8.8)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) via netrc_cmd in yt-dlp URL Handling

CVE-2026-26331

Published:

Feb 23, 2026

Status:

Analyzed

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

NDV

Recent Vulnerabilities

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setGameSpeedCfg CGI Handler

Remote Code Execution on the Router

April 6, 2026

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setFirewallType Handler

Remote Code Execution on Router Firmware

April 6, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

OS Command Injection

CWE:

CWE-78

Impact:

Arbitrary OS Command Execution on the Client System

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(8.8)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

OS Command Injection

CWE:

CWE-78

Impact:

Arbitrary OS Command Execution on the Client System

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(8.8)

CVSS Version:

3.1

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OS Command Injection (CWE-78) via netrc_cmd in yt-dlp URL Handling

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Recent Vulnerabilities

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setGameSpeedCfg CGI Handler

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setFirewallType Handler

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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