Vulnerabilities > CVE-2023-35934 - Information Exposure vulnerability in multiple products
Summary
yt-dlp is a command-line program to download videos from video sites. During file downloads, yt-dlp or the external downloaders that yt-dlp employs may leak cookies on HTTP redirects to a different host, or leak them when the host for download fragments differs from their parent manifest's host. This vulnerable behavior is present in yt-dlp prior to 2023.07.06 and nightly 2023.07.06.185519. All native and external downloaders are affected, except for `curl` and `httpie` (version 3.1.0 or later). At the file download stage, all cookies are passed by yt-dlp to the file downloader as a `Cookie` header, thereby losing their scope. This also occurs in yt-dlp's info JSON output, which may be used by external tools. As a result, the downloader or external tool may indiscriminately send cookies with requests to domains or paths for which the cookies are not scoped. yt-dlp version 2023.07.06 and nightly 2023.07.06.185519 fix this issue by removing the `Cookie` header upon HTTP redirects; having native downloaders calculate the `Cookie` header from the cookiejar, utilizing external downloaders' built-in support for cookies instead of passing them as header arguments, disabling HTTP redirectiong if the external downloader does not have proper cookie support, processing cookies passed as HTTP headers to limit their scope, and having a separate field for cookies in the info dict storing more information about scoping Some workarounds are available for those who are unable to upgrade. Avoid using cookies and user authentication methods. While extractors may set custom cookies, these usually do not contain sensitive information. Alternatively, avoid using `--load-info-json`. Or, if authentication is a must: verify the integrity of download links from unknown sources in browser (including redirects) before passing them to yt-dlp; use `curl` as external downloader, since it is not impacted; and/or avoid fragmented formats such as HLS/m3u8, DASH/mpd and ISM.
Vulnerable Configurations
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Subverting Environment Variable Values The attacker directly or indirectly modifies environment variables used by or controlling the target software. The attacker's goal is to cause the target software to deviate from its expected operation in a manner that benefits the attacker.
- Footprinting An attacker engages in probing and exploration activity to identify constituents and properties of the target. Footprinting is a general term to describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security mechanisms of the targeted application, system or network. Information that might be collected during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and their versions, network topology, and similar information. While footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities, such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging attacks.
- Exploiting Trust in Client (aka Make the Client Invisible) An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities in client/server communication channel authentication and data integrity. It leverages the implicit trust a server places in the client, or more importantly, that which the server believes is the client. An attacker executes this type of attack by placing themselves in the communication channel between client and server such that communication directly to the server is possible where the server believes it is communicating only with a valid client. There are numerous variations of this type of attack.
- Browser Fingerprinting An attacker carefully crafts small snippets of Java Script to efficiently detect the type of browser the potential victim is using. Many web-based attacks need prior knowledge of the web browser including the version of browser to ensure successful exploitation of a vulnerability. Having this knowledge allows an attacker to target the victim with attacks that specifically exploit known or zero day weaknesses in the type and version of the browser used by the victim. Automating this process via Java Script as a part of the same delivery system used to exploit the browser is considered more efficient as the attacker can supply a browser fingerprinting method and integrate it with exploit code, all contained in Java Script and in response to the same web page request by the browser.
- Session Credential Falsification through Prediction This attack targets predictable session ID in order to gain privileges. The attacker can predict the session ID used during a transaction to perform spoofing and session hijacking.
References
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases/tag/2023.07.06.185519
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/3121512228487c9c690d3d39bfd2579addf96e07
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/f8b4bcc0a791274223723488bfbfc23ea3276641
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-v8mc-9377-rwjj
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/1ceb657bdd254ad961489e5060f2ccc7d556b729
- https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2023.07.06
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/IM44RJL2MR2WG3ZY354C5IUEEZUJGEVA/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/5X6YT6AQE5FHM5VTQLKKJXSYBLLJF26W/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/HEOKCGVONGHR2SYUIXU33A4MKXZBDP6L/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/M7E7CQ5S5KMZHAMCNU7V7KYNBVCPLBHG/