Bug 2569025 (CVE-2026-96285)

Summary: CVE-2026-96285 apache-airflow: Apache Airflow: Code execution via unsafe deserialization in the scheduler
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerability-draftAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in Apache Airflow. An authenticated workflow author can trigger unauthorized code execution in core components, such as the scheduler and API server, by submitting a crafted task payload. Because the application deserializes stored data before validating its format, object constructors run inside privileged processes before the input can be rejected. This flaw enables an attacker with workflow authoring permissions to run unintended code within the scheduler.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-11-09 10:01:47 UTC 
Apache Airflow 3.3.1 shipped a fix for CVE-2026-67260 that checks the scheduler's decoded `next_kwargs` value is a dictionary, but performs that check only after deserializing the whole stored payload. Deserialization reconstructs nested objects of classes permitted by the deserialization allow-list — which by default includes Airflow's own classes — and runs their constructors inside the scheduler process before the check can reject the value. A Dag author, who controls a task's `next_kwargs` through the task execution API, can therefore still trigger constructor execution in the scheduler when the `awaiting_input` timeout sweep processes the task, and in the API server when the task instance is served to a worker using an older Execution API version; no non-default configuration is required. Versions before 3.3.0 are not affected. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-67260: deployments that upgraded to 3.3.1 for that issue must also upgrade to apache-airflow 3.4.0 or later.