CVE-2023-40581

HIGHNVD 8.38.3
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.

This high-severity CVE scores 8.3 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 1.3% (71st percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). No GitHub Security Advisory CVSS is on record for this CVE.

Triggered by: Headline CVSS from NVD CVSS v3
Sources: EPSS, NVD CVSS v3
8.3EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixRemediate within your standard update timelines (the SSVC decision on this page).
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 1.3%CVSS: 8.3Exploit: None knownExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

yt-dlp is a youtube-dl fork with additional features and fixes. yt-dlp allows the user to provide shell command lines to be executed at various stages in its download steps through the --exec flag. This flag allows output template expansion in its argument, so that metadata values may be used in the shell commands. The metadata fields can be combined with the %q conversion, which is intended to quote/escape these values so they can be safely passed to the shell. However, the escaping used for cmd (the shell used by Python's subprocess on Windows) does not properly escape special characters, which can allow for remote code execution if --exec is used directly with maliciously crafted remote data. This vulnerability only impacts yt-dlp on Windows, and the vulnerability is present regardless of whether yt-dlp is run from cmd or from PowerShell. Support for output template expansion in --exec, along with this vulnerable behavior, was added to yt-dlp in version 2021.04.11. yt-dlp version 2023.09.24 fixes this issue by properly escaping each special character. \n will be replaced by \r as no way of escaping it has been found. It is recommended to upgrade yt-dlp to version 2023.09.24 as soon as possible. Also, always be careful when using --exec, because while this specific vulnerability has been patched, using unvalidated input in shell commands is inherently dangerous. For Windows users who are not able to upgrade: 1. Avoid using any output template expansion in --exec other than {} (filepath). 2. If expansion in --exec is needed, verify the fields you are using do not contain ", | or &. 3. Instead of using --exec, write the info json and load the fields from it instead.

CVSS v3
8.3
EG Score
8.3HIGHmedium confidence
EG Risk
38
EG Risk 38/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity83% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 8.3 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation1.3% × 40%
FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
EPSS PROB
1.3%
EPSS %ILE
71st
KEV
Not listed

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (8.3): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 8.3 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.

EG Severity
8.3 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.NVD CVSS v3 · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
EG Likelihood
1.3% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-20). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.

Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.

In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

Published

September 25, 2023

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Sep 6, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github_release, github_commit, github.
GitHub advisoryMentions a patch (unverified)

`--exec` command injection when using `%q` in yt-dlp on Windows · Advisory · yt-dlp/yt-dlp · GitHub

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-42h4-v29r-42qg
GitHub release Patch Available

yt-dlp 2023.09.24

Patch available: yt-dlp/yt-dlp 2023.09.24

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2023.09.24
GitHub release Patch Available

yt-dlp 2021.04.11

Patch available: yt-dlp/yt-dlp 2021.04.11

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.04.11
GitHub commit

commit de015e930747 (yt-dlp/yt-dlp)

Fix landed in yt-dlp/yt-dlp commit de015e930747 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/de015e930747165dbb8fcd360f8775fd973b7d6e
GitHub release Patch Available

yt-dlp nightly 2023.09.24.003044

Patch available: yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds 2023.09.24.003044

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2023.09.24.003044

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
PyPI(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
yt-dlp2021.10.10 ... 2023.7.6 (51 versions)
  • 2021.04.11 up to 2023.09.24: fixed in 2023.09.24
—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 34× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 84 of 197 refreshes on record for this CVE.

A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 16 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat. The 113 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-10-22 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 71st percentile
  2. 2026-10-21 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 71st percentile
  3. 2026-10-20 23:19 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-10-20 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  5. 2026-10-19 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  6. 2026-10-18 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  7. 2026-10-18 07:53 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-10-17 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  9. 2026-10-16 16:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  10. 2026-10-15 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  11. 2026-10-14 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  12. 2026-10-13 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  13. 2026-10-13 01:24 UTCOSV refresh
  14. 2026-10-12 18:21 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-10-12 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  16. 2026-10-11 21:47 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-10-11 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  18. 2026-10-10 19:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  19. 2026-10-09 20:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  20. 2026-10-08 17:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  21. 2026-10-07 23:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  22. 2026-10-06 15:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  23. 2026-10-05 17:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  24. 2026-10-03 14:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  25. 2026-10-01 19:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
Show 59 more
  1. 2026-09-30 16:29 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-09-30 15:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  3. 2026-09-29 15:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  4. 2026-09-28 13:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  5. 2026-09-27 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  6. 2026-09-26 15:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  7. 2026-09-26 00:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 70th percentile
  8. 2026-09-24 14:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  9. 2026-09-23 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 69th percentile
  10. 2026-09-22 23:32 UTCOSV refresh
  11. 2026-09-20 20:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  12. 2026-09-18 19:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  13. 2026-09-17 19:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  14. 2026-09-16 14:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  15. 2026-09-16 05:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  16. 2026-09-13 16:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  17. 2026-09-12 14:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  18. 2026-09-11 14:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  19. 2026-09-11 09:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  20. 2026-09-08 21:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  21. 2026-09-07 15:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  22. 2026-09-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  23. 2026-09-05 15:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  24. 2026-09-04 13:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  25. 2026-09-04 05:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  26. 2026-09-03 18:16 UTCOSV refresh
  27. 2026-09-02 14:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  28. 2026-09-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  29. 2026-08-30 19:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  30. 2026-08-30 01:20 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  31. 2026-08-28 21:39 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  32. 2026-08-27 14:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  33. 2026-08-26 14:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  34. 2026-08-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  35. 2026-08-23 00:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  36. 2026-08-21 23:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  37. 2026-08-20 22:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 68th percentile
  38. 2026-08-19 17:02 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  39. 2026-08-18 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  40. 2026-08-17 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  41. 2026-08-17 07:31 UTCOSV refresh
  42. 2026-08-16 14:54 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  43. 2026-08-16 02:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  44. 2026-08-15 01:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  45. 2026-08-13 21:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  46. 2026-08-12 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  47. 2026-08-11 13:39 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  48. 2026-08-09 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  49. 2026-08-08 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  50. 2026-08-07 16:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  51. 2026-08-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  52. 2026-08-05 19:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  53. 2026-08-04 15:07 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  54. 2026-08-03 10:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  55. 2026-08-02 02:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  56. 2026-08-02 02:06 UTCOSV refresh
  57. 2026-08-01 04:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  58. 2026-07-30 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile
  59. 2026-07-30 01:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 67th percentile

Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2023-40581?
CVE-2023-40581 is a high-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on September 25, 2023. yt-dlp is a youtube-dl fork with additional features and fixes. yt-dlp allows the user to provide shell command lines to be executed at various stages in its download steps through the --exec flag. This flag allows output template expansion in its argument, so that metadata values may be used in…
When was the CVE record for CVE-2023-40581 published?
The CVE record for CVE-2023-40581 was published on September 25, 2023. That is the record's publication date; the vulnerability itself may have been made public earlier. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of November 21, 2024; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2023-40581 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-40581 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 1.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (71st percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-40581?
CVE-2023-40581 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.3 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2023-40581?
A fix for CVE-2023-40581 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

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