CVE-2026-50019: yt-dlp File Downloader Cookie Leak With Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-f7j3-774f-rfhj",
  "modified" : "2026-07-20T13:45:40Z",
  "published" : "2026-06-16T20:16:56Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-50019" ],
  "summary" : "yt-dlp: File Downloader cookie leak with curl ",
  "details" : "### Summary\nIf curl is used an external downloader for yt-dlp, cookies may be leaked to an unintended host upon HTTP redirect or when the host for download fragments differs from their parent manifest's.\n\nThis is the equivalent to [GHSA-v8mc-9377-rwjj](<https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-v8mc-9377-rwjj>) for the `curl` downloader. The vulnerable behavior is present in [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) released since 2023.09.24.\n\n### Details\nAt the file download stage, the cookies are passed by yt-dlp to the file downloader via `--cookie`. However, unless these are loaded from a file, this operation does not activate the cookie engine. As a result, `curl` will send cookies with requests to domains or paths for which the cookies are not scoped.\n\nAn example of a potential attack scenario exploiting this vulnerability:\n1. an attacker has crafted a malicious website with an embedded URL designed to be detected by yt-dlp as a video download. This embedded URL has the domain of a trusted site that the user has loaded cookies for, and conducts an [unvalidated redirect](https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Unvalidated_Redirects_and_Forwards_Cheat_Sheet.html) to a target URL.\n2. yt-dlp extracts this URL and calculates the cookies which are then passed to `curl`.\n3. the download URL redirects to a server controlled by the attacker, to which `curl` forwards the user's sensitive cookie information.\n\n### Patches\nyt-dlp version 2026.06.09 fixes this issue by doing the following:\n\n- Pass the cookies through stdin via `--cookie -` if `curl` is version 7.59 or higher.\n- Pass the cookies via `--cookie /dev/fd/0` if the system supports this device file.\n- In all other cases create a temporary file, save the cookies and then pass via `--cookie <file>`.\n\n### Workarounds\nIt is recommended to upgrade yt-dlp to version 2026.06.09 as soon as possible.\n\nFor users who are not able to upgrade:\n\n- Do not use `--downloader curl`.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "yt-dlp"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2023.9.24"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2026.6.9"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-f7j3-774f-rfhj"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-50019"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/2726572520238356bcf64aba2040228648b44c82"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f7j3-774f-rfhj"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/yt-dlp/PYSEC-2026-3431.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2026.06.09.230517"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2026.06.09"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-200" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-06-16T20:16:56Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-06-23T17:17:02Z"
  }
}