CVE-2020-17526 Incorrect Session Validation in Apache Airflow

What is CVE-2020-17526?

CVE-2020-17526 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Apache Airflow, published on 21 Dec 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Incorrect Session Validation in Apache Airflow Webserver versions prior to 1.10.14 with default config allows a malicious airflow user on site A where they log in normally, to access unauthorized Airflow Webserver on Site B through the session from Site A. This does not affect users who have changed the default value for `[webserver] secret_key` config.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-17526?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including apache-airflow and airflow. It affects 1 product.

Products include Apache Airflow.

How do I fix CVE-2020-17526?

Upgrade apache-airflow to 1.10.14 or later.

Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.

Is CVE-2020-17526 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-17526 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Nuclei template.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Airflow

• CVE-2020-13927 Apache Airflow's Experimental API Authentication Bypass Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2020-11978 Apache Airflow Command Injection Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2026-33264 Apache Airflow: DAG author RCE on webserver via unrestricted import_string() in BaseSerialization.deserialize() Critical 9.8
• CVE-2023-25754 Apache Airflow: Privilege escalation using airflow logs Critical 9.8
• CVE-2023-22884 Apache Airflow, Apache Airflow MySQL Provider: Arbitrary file read via MySQL provider in Apache Airflow Critical 9.8

All Apache Airflow vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BIT-airflow-2020-17526, GHSA-7mx5-x372-xh87, PYSEC-2020-22.