Airflow
CVE-2020-11978
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 8.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
An issue was found in Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Avoid passing user input to shell commands. Use language-specific APIs instead of shell execution. Apply strict input validation with allowlists.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in pypi
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. An issue was found in Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below. A remote code/command injection vulnerability was discovered in one of the example DAGs shipped with Airflow which would allow any authenticated user to run arbitrary commands as the user running airflow worker/scheduler (depending on the executor in use). If you already have examples disabled by setting load_examples=False in the config then you are not vulnerable. Affected products include: Apache Airflow.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionNVD
An issue was found in Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below. A remote code/command injection vulnerability was discovered in one of the example DAGs shipped with Airflow which would allow any authenticated user to run arbitrary commands as the user running airflow worker/scheduler (depending on the executor in use). If you already have examples disabled by setting load_examples=False in the config then you are not vulnerable.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
CISA KEV
EPSS
Exploit-DB
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
The previous default setting for Airflow's Experimental API was to allow all API requests without authentication, but th
The variable import endpoint was not protected by authentication in Airflow >=2.0.0, <2.1.3. Rated critical severity (CV
An issue was found in Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability
A vulnerability in Example Dags of Apache Airflow allows an attacker with UI access who can trigger DAGs, to execute arb
In Apache Airflow, prior to version 2.2.4, some example DAGs did not properly sanitize user-provided params, making them
Incorrect Session Validation in Apache Airflow Webserver versions prior to 1.10.14 with default config allows a maliciou
Insufficient session expiration in apache-airflow-providers-fab 2.4.2 through 3.9.0 means an attacker who already holds
Authentication bypass in the Apache Airflow Keycloak auth manager provider (apache-airflow-providers-keycloak below 0.10
Privilege Context Switching Error vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache Airflow.6.0. Rated critical severit
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection') vulnerability in Apache Software Fou
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') vulnerability in Apache Airfl
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') vulnerability in Apache Airfl
GitHub PoC