FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2023-35934

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2023.07.06 / 2023.07.06.185519 or later.
See remediation →
89/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
yt-dlp is a command-line program to download videos from video sites. During file downloads, yt-dlp or the external downloaders that yt-dlp employs may leak cookies on HTTP redirects to a different host, or leak them when the host for download fragments differs from their parent manifest's host. This vulnerable behavior is present in yt-dlp prior to 2023.07.06 and nightly 2023.07.06.185519. All native and external downloaders are affected, except for `curl` and `httpie` (version 3.1.0 or later). At the file download stage, all cookies are passed by yt-dlp to the file downloader as a `Cookie` header, thereby losing their scope. This also occurs in yt-dlp's info JSON output, which may be used by external tools. As a result, the downloader or external tool may indiscriminately send cookies with requests to domains or paths for which the cookies are not scoped. yt-dlp version 2023.07.06 and nightly 2023.07.06.185519 fix this issue by removing the `Cookie` header upon HTTP redirects; having native downloaders calculate the `Cookie` header from the cookiejar, utilizing external downloaders' built-in support for cookies instead of passing them as header arguments, disabling HTTP redirectiong if the external downloader does not have proper cookie support, processing cookies passed as HTTP headers to limit their scope, and having a separate field for cookies in the info dict storing more information about scoping Some workarounds are available for those who are unable to upgrade. Avoid using cookies and user authentication methods. While extractors may set custom cookies, these usually do not contain sensitive information. Alternatively, avoid using `--load-info-json`. Or, if authentication is a must: verify the integrity of download links from unknown sources in browser (including redirects) before passing them to yt-dlp; use `curl` as external downloader, since it is not impacted; and/or avoid fragmented formats such as HLS/m3u8, DASH/mpd and ISM.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-200

The application discloses data — error detail, internal paths, tokens, or other users' records — to someone who shouldn't see it. On its own it can look minor, but it hands attackers the map they need for a larger attack. Remediation is about minimising what's returned and enforcing authorization on every piece of data.

General guidance for the information exposure class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 37= 38
Youtube DlcApplication
Affected:all versions
Youtube DlApplication
Affected:>= 2015.01.25
Yt DlpApplication
Affected:< 2023.07.06< 2023.07.06.185519

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2023.07.06 / 2023.07.06.185519 or later
Fixed in 2023.07.062023.07.06.185519
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

yt-dlp version 2023.07.06 or nightly 2023.07.06.185519

  1. Upgrade yt-dlp to version 2023.07.06 or later (or nightly 2023.07.06.185519)
  2. Verify the upgrade by running `yt-dlp --version` and confirming the version is 2023.07.06 or newer
  3. If upgrade is not possible, use curl as the external downloader by adding `--downloader curl` to your commands
  4. If upgrade is not possible, avoid using cookies, avoid `--load-info-json`, and avoid fragmented formats (HLS/m3u8, DASH/mpd, ISM)

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,250. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-35934 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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