High

Apache Airflow: Execution API JWT leaked via KubernetesExecutor worker command-line args

  • Disclosed: 01.06.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 14:18

A bug in Apache Airflow's KubernetesExecutor caused JWT tokens used by worker pods to authenticate against the Execution API to be passed to the worker container as command-line arguments visible in the pod spec. An authenticated UI/API user with Kubernetes read-only access to the cluster (e.g. pods/get in the Airflow namespace) could harvest the JWT from kubectl describe pod output and then call state-mutating Execution API endpoints — triggering Dag runs, clearing runs, reading or writing Variables / Connections / XComs — as if they were a running task. Affects deployments using the KubernetesExecutor. Users are advised to upgrade to apache-airflow 3.2.2 or later. This is the airflow-core half of the same vulnerability addressed by CVE-2026-27173, which shipped the apache-airflow-providers-cncf-kubernetes side of the fix. Deployments that already upgraded apache-airflow-providers-cncf-kubernetes to 10.17.0 or later per the CVE-2026-27173 advisory should additionally upgrade apache-airflow to 3.2.2 or later to close the core-side surface — the two fixes are complementary, not duplicates.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) apache-airflow-core < 3.2.2 3.2.2

References

CVSS score 8.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-538
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
apache-airflow-core
Disclosed
01.06.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 14:18

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-5j6p-jrrm-6x94 - CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-2358 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: apache-airflow-core

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

Total entries
5
First → latest
04.2026 06.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 3
  • Medium 1
  • Low 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2026: 5
  1. Apache Airflow: Execution API JWT leaked via KubernetesExecutor worker command-line args this entry
    High · 8.8 CVE-2026-49298 < 3.2.2 3.2.2
  2. Low · 3.7 CVE-2026-32690 >= 3.0.0, < 3.2.0 3.2.0

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