yt-dlp Generic Extractor MITM Vulnerability via Arbitrary Proxy Injection

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2023-46121: 0.32% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 25.16 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact The Generic Extractor in yt-dlp is vulnerable to an attacker setting an arbitrary proxy for a request to an arbitrary url, allowing the attacker to MITM the request made from yt-dlp's HTTP session. This could lead to cookie exfiltration in some cases. <details To pass extra control data between extractors (such as headers like Referer), yt-dlp employs a concept of "url smuggling". This works by adding this extra data as json to the url fragment ("smuggling") that is then passed on to an extractor. The receiving extractor then "unsmuggles" the data from the input url. This functionality is intended to be internal only. Currently, the Generic extractor supports receiving an arbitrary dictionary of HTTP headers in a smuggled url, of which it extracts and adds them to the initial request it makes to such url. This is useful when a url sent to the Generic extractor needs a Referer header sent with it, for example. Additionally, yt-dlp has internal headers to set a proxy for a…

Published by the source

15 Nov 2023, 14:48 UTC

Last modified by the source

10 Sep 2026, 03:49 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 13:12 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-3ch3-jhc6-5r8x

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-3ch3-jhc6-5r8x

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-46121

Advisory: yt-dlp Generic Extractor MITM Vulnerability via Arbitrary Proxy Injection
IDs: CVE-2023-46121, GHSA-3ch3-jhc6-5r8x
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-46121 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 13:12 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.0)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: yt-dlp 2023.11.14. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- PyPI yt-dlp: affected >= 2022.10.4, < 2023.11.14; fixed in 2023.11.14

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `python -m pip show yt-dlp`: prints the installed version. Run with the environment that serves production active.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on yt-dlp.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-3ch3-jhc6-5r8x (OSV record GHSA-3ch3-jhc6-5r8x lists affected ranges: PyPI yt-dlp >=2022.10.04 <2023.11.14 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-3ch3-jhc6-5r8x (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-3ch3-jhc6-5r8x lists affected ranges: PyPI yt-dlp >=2022.10.4 <2023.11.14)

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