Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-54072 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Yt-Dlp Project Yt-Dlp. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 44th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2025-54072 is a remote code execution vulnerability in yt-dlp, a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader, affecting versions 2025.06.25 and earlier. The issue arises on Windows when the --exec option is used with the default placeholder or {}, due to insufficient sanitization of the expanded filepath. This flaw represents a bypass of the mitigation implemented for CVE-2024-22423, as the default placeholder and {} were not covered by the new escaping rules. It is classified under CWE-78 (OS Command Injection) with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by controlling the filename of a downloaded file, such as through a malicious URL. An affected user must execute yt-dlp with the --exec option and the vulnerable placeholder, enabling the unsanitized filepath to inject arbitrary commands. This requires user interaction and high attack complexity but no privileges, potentially allowing the attacker to achieve high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations through arbitrary code execution on the victim's Windows system.
The yt-dlp security advisory (GHSA-45hg-7f49-5h56), release notes for version 2025.07.21, and the fixing commit (959ac99e98c3215437e573c22d64be42d361e863) confirm the issue is resolved in yt-dlp 2025.07.21. Windows users unable to upgrade are advised to avoid the --exec option entirely and instead use --write-info-json or --dump-json to generate JSON output for processing by external scripts or commands.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-22381
Vulnerability Data
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…
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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.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.
Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.
Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.
Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.
Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.
Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.