Critical

Authentication bypass in Apache Airflow

  • Disclosed: 10.11.2020
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 12:19

CISA confirms exploitation of this vulnerability in real attacks. Prioritise checking whether your application is affected. CISA KEV · CC0 1.0

The previous default setting for Airflow's Experimental API was to allow all API requests without authentication, but this poses security risks to users who miss this fact. From Airflow 1.10.11 the default has been changed to deny all requests by default and is documented at https://airflow.apache.org/docs/1.10.11/security.html#api-authentication. Note this change fixes it for new installs but existing users need to change their config to default [api]auth_backend = airflow.api.auth.backend.deny_all as mentioned in the Updating Guide: https://github.com/apache/airflow/blob/1.10.11/UPDATING.md#experimental-api-will-deny-all-request-by-default

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) apache-airflow < 1.10.11 1.10.11

References

CVSS score 9.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-1056, CWE-1188, CWE-287, CWE-306
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
apache-airflow
Disclosed
10.11.2020
Updated
11.10.2026 12:19

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2020-18 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: apache-airflow

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (158) in the archive
Total entries
158
First → latest
08.2018 09.2026
Without a fix
4
Exploited in attacks
2

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 16
  • High 49
  • Medium 86
  • Low 7

Disclosures per year

  1. 2018: 1
  2. 2019: 8
  3. 2020: 12
  4. 2021: 5
  5. 2022: 16
  6. 2023: 31
  7. 2024: 18
  8. 2025: 6
  9. 2026: 61
Severity:
  1. High · 7.3 CVE-2026-45360 >= 3.2.0, < 3.2.2 3.2.2
  2. High · 7.5 CVE-2026-31987 >= 3.0.0, < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  3. High · 8.1 CVE-2025-54550 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  4. Critical · 9.1 CVE-2025-57735 >= 3.0.0, < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  5. High · 7.5 CVE-2025-68675 >= 3.0.0b1, < 3.1.6, < 2.11.1 3.1.6, 2.11.1
  6. High · 8.8 CVE-2024-45498 >= 2.10.0, < 2.10.1 2.10.1
  7. High · 8.8 CVE-2024-45034 < 2.10.1 2.10.1
  8. High · 8.8 CVE-2024-39877 >= 2.4.0, < 2.9.3 2.9.3
  9. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2023-25693 < 3.1.1 3.1.1
  10. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2023-22884 < 2.5.1 2.5.1
  11. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2022-38649 < 2.3.0 2.3.0
  12. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2022-40189 < 2.3.0 2.3.0
  13. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2022-38054 >= 2.2.4, < 2.3.4rc1 2.3.4rc1
  14. High · 8.8 CVE-2022-24288 < 2.2.4 2.2.4
  15. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2021-38540 >= 2.0.0, < 2.1.3 2.1.3
  16. High · 6.5 CVE-2021-26559 >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.1rc1 2.0.1rc1
  17. High · 7.7 CVE-2020-17526 < 1.10.14 1.10.14
  18. Authentication bypass in Apache Airflow this entry
    Critical · 9.8 Exploited in attacks CVE-2020-13927 < 1.10.11 1.10.11
  19. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2020-11982 < 1.10.11 1.10.11
  20. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2020-11981 < 1.10.11rc1 1.10.11rc1
  21. High · 8.8 Exploited in attacks CVE-2020-11978 < 1.10.11rc1 1.10.11rc1
  22. High · 8.8 CVE-2019-0229 < 1.10.3 1.10.3
  23. High · 7.5 CVE-2018-20245 < 1.10.1 1.10.1
  24. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2017-17836 < 1.9.0 1.9.0
  25. High · 8.8 CVE-2017-17835 < 1.9.0 1.9.0

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