`yt-dlp` is a command-line audio/video downloader. Prior to version 2024.07.01, `yt-dlp` does not limit the extensions of downloaded files, which could lead to aribitrary filenames being created in the download folder (and path traversal on Windows). Since `yt-dlp` also reads config from the working directory (and on Windows executables will be executed from the yt-dlp directory) this could lead to arbitrary code being executed. `yt-dlp` version 2024.07.01 fixes this issue by whitelisting the allowed extensions. This might mean some very uncommon extensions might not get downloaded, however it will also limit the possible exploitation surface. In addition to upgrading, have `.%(ext)s` at the end of the output template and make sure the user trusts the websites that they are downloading from. Also, make sure to never download to a directory within PATH or other sensitive locations like one's user directory, `system32`, or other binaries locations. For users who are not able to upgrade, keep the default output template (`-o "%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`); make sure the extension of the media to download is a common video/audio/sub/... one; try to avoid the generic extractor; and/or use `--ignore-config --config-location ...` to not load config from common locations.

References:
http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2024-38519
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38519
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/5ce582448ececb8d9c30c8c31f58330090ced03a
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2024.07.01
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j
https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2024-090_yt-dlp