Apache Airflow: Rendered template truncation bypasses nested sensitive-key masking
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-200.
Summary
A bug in Apache Airflow's rendered-template field handling caused nested sensitive-key masking (e.g. nested `password` / `token` / `secret` / `api_key` keys inside a JSON template structure) to be bypassed when the rendered field exceeded `[core] max_templated_field_length`: Airflow stringified the structure before redaction, losing the nested key context, and persisted the plaintext value into `rendered_fields`. An authenticated UI/API user with permission to read rendered template fields could harvest secret values intended to be masked. Affects deployments where Dag authors pass structured JSON to operators with nested sensitive keys. This is a variant of `CWE-200` previously addressed for the user-registered `mask_secret()` patterns in CVE-2025-68438; that fix did not cover the nested sensitive-keyword allowlist. Users who already upgraded for CVE-2025-68438 should additionally upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later to cover the nested-key path.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Apache Airflow (Apache Software Foundation) Fixed in 3.0.0
- Fix · CNA Apache Airflow (Apache Software Foundation) Fixed in 3.2.2
- Fix · GHSA-cg3x-89rc-x9mw apache-airflow (PyPI) Fixed in 3.2.2 Advisory →
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
Apache Airflow 3.2.2
17 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 3 MEDIUM, 14 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-30568 Apache Airflow: BashOperator Jinja2 injection via dag_run.conf — low-privilege user patternPriority MEDIUM 47
- TI-2026-36484 Apache Airflow: JWT Token Exposure in KubernetesExecutor Command-Line ArgumentsPriority MEDIUM 41
- TI-2026-30661 Apache Airflow: Authenticated RCE via XCom PATCH endpoint — XComUpdateBody missing FORBIDDEN_XCOM_KEYS validatorPriority MEDIUM 41
- Release ·
Apache Airflow 3.0.0
9 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 1 MEDIUM, 8 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-36484 Apache Airflow: JWT Token Exposure in KubernetesExecutor Command-Line ArgumentsPriority MEDIUM 41
- TI-2026-33151 Apache Airflow: Arbitrary import in custom deadline-reference deserializationPriority LOW 39
- TI-2026-29518 Apache Airflow: Arbitrary File Read via Log Symlink following in FileTaskHandlerPriority LOW 30
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-42360
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-cg3x-89rc-x9mw
- 2026-11-03 Fix available: [email protected], [email protected] · CNA
References
Advisory 2
More Apache Airflow vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-10905 Missing authentication in Apache Airflow KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2020-09638 OS command injection in Apache Airflow KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-19017 Apache Airflow <2.4.0 has an RCE in a bash example CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2021-16140 Apache Airflow: Variable Import endpoint missed authentication check CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-08169 Apache Airflow: RCE in example DAGs CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2024-26776 Apache Airflow: DAG Author Code Execution possibility in airflow-scheduler CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-42360 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-42360 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-cg3x-89rc-x9mw · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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