diff --git a/test/test_YoutubeDL.py b/test/test_YoutubeDL.py
index 0388c0bf32..0caa43843a 100644
--- a/test/test_YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/test/test_YoutubeDL.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import copy
 
 from test.helper import FakeYDL, assertRegexpMatches
 from youtube_dl import YoutubeDL
-from youtube_dl.compat import compat_str
+from youtube_dl.compat import compat_str, compat_urllib_error
 from youtube_dl.extractor import YoutubeIE
 from youtube_dl.postprocessor.common import PostProcessor
 from youtube_dl.utils import ExtractorError, match_filter_func
@@ -631,6 +631,11 @@ class TestYoutubeDL(unittest.TestCase):
         result = get_ids({'playlist_items': '10'})
         self.assertEqual(result, [])
 
+    def test_urlopen_no_file_protocol(self):
+        # see https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/8227
+        ydl = YDL()
+        self.assertRaises(compat_urllib_error.URLError, ydl.urlopen, 'file:///etc/passwd')
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index d50b7cfed3..6b73b8e06e 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -1986,8 +1986,19 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         https_handler = make_HTTPS_handler(self.params, debuglevel=debuglevel)
         ydlh = YoutubeDLHandler(self.params, debuglevel=debuglevel)
         data_handler = compat_urllib_request_DataHandler()
+
+        # When passing our own FileHandler instance, build_opener won't add the
+        # default FileHandler and allows us to disable the file protocol, which
+        # can be used for malicious purposes (see
+        # https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/8227)
+        file_handler = compat_urllib_request.FileHandler()
+
+        def file_open(*args, **kwargs):
+            raise compat_urllib_error.URLError('file:// scheme is explicitly disabled in youtube-dl for security reasons')
+        file_handler.file_open = file_open
+
         opener = compat_urllib_request.build_opener(
-            proxy_handler, https_handler, cookie_processor, ydlh, data_handler)
+            proxy_handler, https_handler, cookie_processor, ydlh, data_handler, file_handler)
 
         # Delete the default user-agent header, which would otherwise apply in
         # cases where our custom HTTP handler doesn't come into play