CVE-2026-45360 Apache Airflow: Arbitrary import in custom deadline-reference deserialization
A DAG author can execute arbitrary code on the scheduler by embedding malicious class paths in serialized deadline references.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-45360?
CVE-2026-45360 is a high-severity unsafe deserialization vulnerability in Apache Airflow, published on 1 Jun 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Apache Airflow's scheduler-side deadline-reference decoder (`SerializedCustomReference.deserialize_reference`) imported and dispatched arbitrary class paths drawn from DAG-author-controlled serialized state without an allowlist or plugin-registry gate. A DAG author whose code reaches the scheduler — the default on single-host deployments where the DAG bundle is importable from the scheduler process — could embed a custom `DeadlineReference` whose serialized form named an attacker-controlled module path, causing the scheduler to `import_string(...)` and instantiate that class with a live SQLAlchemy session attached. Affects deployments where DAG-author code is less trusted than the scheduler process. Users are advised to upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later.
Weakness: CWE-502
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45360?
4 open source packages ship an affected version, including apache-airflow and airflow. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
apache-airflow PyPI | All versions | 3.2.2 |
apache-airflow PyPI | From 3.2.0 | 3.2.2 |
apache-airflow PyPI | From 3.2.0 | 3.2.2 |
airflow Bitnami | All versions | 3.2.2 |
Products include Apache Airflow.
How do I fix CVE-2026-45360?
Upgrade apache-airflow to 3.2.2 or later.
Upgrade, and only deserialise data from trusted sources or with an allow-list of types. More about Unsafe deserialization.
Is CVE-2026-45360 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45360 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Apache Airflow
- CVE-2020-13927 Apache Airflow's Experimental API Authentication Bypass
- CVE-2020-11978 Apache Airflow Command Injection
- CVE-2026-33264 Apache Airflow: DAG author RCE on webserver via unrestricted import_string() in BaseSerialization.deserialize()
- CVE-2023-25754 Apache Airflow: Privilege escalation using airflow logs
- CVE-2023-22884 Apache Airflow, Apache Airflow MySQL Provider: Arbitrary file read via MySQL provider in Apache Airflow
Sources
Also known as BIT-airflow-2026-45360, ECHO-7942-7f96-ac0b, GHSA-2r5m-76wx-56gx, MINI-4gww-52rq-95m7, MINI-wj9g-4jh5-5gf7, PYSEC-2026-186.