Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
yt-dlp could send authentication cookies to the wrong website during downloads that redirect or split media fragments across hosts. That can expose session cookies when a user downloads content from an untrusted or manipulated source. The issue is fixed in yt-dlp 2023.07.06 and nightly 2023.07.06.185519.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate confidentiality issue. Prioritize developer workstations, automation hosts, and media-processing services that use authenticated yt-dlp downloads. It should be fixed promptly where cookies are used, but the source evidence does not support emergency active-exploitation handling.
Technical view
Before fixed versions, yt-dlp passed all cookies to file downloaders as a Cookie header, stripping scope information. Native and most external downloaders could then reuse those cookies across redirects or fragment hosts outside the original cookie scope. The advisory also notes exposure through info JSON used by external tools.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where yt-dlp is used with cookies, browser-imported authentication, info JSON workflows, external downloaders, redirects, or fragmented formats such as HLS, DASH, or ISM. Unauthenticated downloads are lower concern. curl and httpie 3.1.0 or later were identified as exceptions.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not report known active exploitation and CISA KEV is false. Abuse would require user interaction and a download flow that causes cookies to be sent to a different host or path than intended. The impact is confidentiality loss, not code execution.
Researcher notes
The vulnerable pattern is cookie scope loss at the file download stage. The fix set removes Cookie headers on redirects, computes cookies from the cookiejar for native downloaders, uses external downloader cookie support, blocks unsafe redirects for unsupported tools, and stores scoped cookie details separately in info data.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade yt-dlp to 2023.07.06 or later.
- Upgrade nightly builds to 2023.07.06.185519 or later.
- Avoid cookies and authenticated downloads until upgraded.
- Avoid --load-info-json where untrusted download metadata is involved.
- Use curl as the external downloader if upgrade is temporarily impossible.
- Avoid fragmented formats when authenticated downloading cannot be avoided.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed yt-dlp and yt-dlp nightly versions.
- Identify automation that passes cookies, browser sessions, or info JSON to yt-dlp.
- Review external downloader configuration for non-exempt tools.
- Check package manager advisories for distro-maintained yt-dlp builds.
- Confirm download workflows no longer pass raw Cookie headers across hosts.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-200: Information exposure and cloud metadata lookup
Information exposure and SSRF weaknesses can make discovery, cloud metadata, and credential material review relevant. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2023-35934 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.1 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N1.64Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.1MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-v8mc-9377-rwjjCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/1ceb657bdd254ad961489e5060f2ccc7d556b729CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/3121512228487c9c690d3d39bfd2579addf96e07CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/f8b4bcc0a791274223723488bfbfc23ea3276641CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2023.07.06.185519CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2023.07.06CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IM44RJL2MR2WG3ZY354C5IUEEZUJGEVA/CVE reference
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5X6YT6AQE5FHM5VTQLKKJXSYBLLJF26W/CVE reference
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HEOKCGVONGHR2SYUIXU33A4MKXZBDP6L/CVE reference
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/M7E7CQ5S5KMZHAMCNU7V7KYNBVCPLBHG/CVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
