CVE-2026-42358: Apache Airflow: Variable masker depth-limit bypass returns cleartext nested secrets
This Apache advisory covers CVE-2026-42358 in Apache Airflow.
- CVE-2026-42358
Key facts
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N· base score 6.5, scored by CISA-ADPAttack vector: network. Attack complexity: low. Privileges required: low. User interaction: none. Scope: unchanged. Confidentiality impact: high. Integrity impact: none. Availability impact: none.- Weakness
- CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none observed. Automatable: no. Technical impact: partial. CISA, .
- CISA KEV
- Not listed (catalogue checked )
- Affected
- Apache Airflow before 3.0.0; Apache Airflow 3.0.0 before 3.2.2
- Fixed in
- 3.0.0, 3.2.2
- Source published
- Source revised
- Listed by VulniPulse
Compiled by VulniPulse from the linked sources. How records are collected and checked.
Affected products & platforms
Description
A bug in Apache Airflow's Variable response masker caused nested-key redaction (triggered by secret-suffixed key names like `password`, `token`, `secret`, `api_key`) to be bypassed when the JSON value's nesting depth exceeded the shared secrets masker's recursion limit: the masker returned the original nested item before checking the sensitive key name.
An authenticated UI/API user with Variable read permission could harvest plaintext secret values stored under sensitive keys nested deep enough to exceed the masker's depth cap. Affects deployments that store sensitive values inside deeply-nested JSON Variables.
This is a residual gap in the fix for CVE-2026-32690 (which covered shallower nesting via `max_depth=1`); the depth-limit boundary itself was not raised, so the same key-name bypass pattern reappears beyond the recursion cap.
Users who already upgraded for CVE-2026-32690 should additionally upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later to cover the deep-nesting path.
Text from the source record.
- Apache Airflow before 3.0.0
- Apache Airflow 3.0.0 before 3.2.2
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched ·verify at source
How to fix CVE-2026-42358
Upgrade to a fixed release named by Apache:
- 3.0.0
- 3.2.2
Vendor guidance
- A bug in Apache Airflow's Variable response masker caused nested-key redaction (triggered by secret-suffixed key names like `password`, `token`, `secret`, `api_key`) to be bypassed when the JSON value's nesting depth exceeded the shared secrets masker's recursion limit: the masker returned the original nested item before checking the sensitive key name.
- This is a residual gap in the fix for CVE-2026-32690 (which covered shallower nesting via `max_depth=1`); the depth-limit boundary itself was not raised, so the same key-name bypass pattern reappears beyond the recursion cap.
- Users who already upgraded for CVE-2026-32690 should additionally upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later to cover the deep-nesting path.
Support dates for the fixed release lines
- Apache Airflow 3.0: support ended
- Apache Airflow 3.2: support ended
More Apache Software Foundation advisories
CVE-2026-40913Nov 9, 2026Apache Airflow's public Import Errors API returns the raw parse-failure stack trace to anyCVE-2026-50204Nov 9, 2026Apache Airflow's audit log stored Connection and Variable secret values in cleartextCVE-2026-68982Nov 9, 2026Apache Airflow's CeleryExecutor ran callback workloadsCVE-2026-76185Nov 9, 2026Apache Airflow's Task SDK secret cache built its keys from the team name and secret idCVE-2026-86829Nov 9, 2026Apache Airflow's scheduler fully deserializes XCom values written by task codeCVE-2026-82337Nov 9, 2026Apache Airflow rebuilt deadline alert fields through generic deserialization
Apache Software Foundation advisories, June 2026All Apache Software Foundation advisories
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