GHSA-5j5v-7fmw-4hvh
Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessSteal victim session cookie via prior compromise
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DeliveryAdmin or user performs routine password change
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ExploitPATCH endpoint skips session invalidation
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ExecutionReplay stolen cookie post-reset
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ImpactRetain full authenticated access as victim
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V7 - Session Management Session expiration enforcement
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires ALL of: (1) the deployment uses the apache-airflow-providers-fab FAB auth manager configured with database-backed sessions (not the default signed-cookie/other backends); (2) the attacker already possesses a valid copy of the victim's session cookie obtained through a prior, separate compromise; and (3) a password change is performed via the Admin user-edit PATCH endpoint (the trigger, done by an admin or the user, not the attacker). Limiting factors: exploitation depends entirely on prior session-cookie theft, so this is a post-compromise persistence/containment failure rather than an initial access vector; the database-session configuration is a non-default gate; and the affected version window is 3.2.0 to <3.9.0. |
| Impact | Signals conflict sharply between the vendor's rating and the real-world preconditions. The vendor CVSS 3.1 vector (9.1, AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) portrays a remote, unauthenticated, trivial attack, but the description makes clear this is a session-invalidation/containment failure: the attacker must ALREADY hold a copy of the victim's session cookie (obtained via a prior compromise, XSS, network capture, etc.), and the deployment must be running the FAB auth manager with database-backed sessions. No attacker action against the PATCH endpoint is needed - the trigger is a routine password change by an admin or the user. That makes PR:N/AC:L misleading: there is a hard prerequisite (pre-stolen cookie) plus a non-default configuration gate, which I judge as AC:H, lowering my independent score to roughly 8.1. Corroborating the low urgency: EPSS is only 0.19% (9th percentile), there is no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit code is identified. This is a legitimate defense-in-depth/containment weakness (the password reset fails to evict a compromised session), not a mass-exploitable remote entry point. It is a real priority specifically for organizations doing incident response - where the assumption 'we changed the password, they're out' is false - but it is NOT a widespread drive-by risk. Note also this is the SECOND independent route to the same outcome as CVE-2026-82311; deployments that applied the 82311 fix are still vulnerable because that fix corrected a helper this PATCH path never calls. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker previously captured a victim's Airflow session cookie (e.g. via XSS, log exposure, or network interception) on a deployment using the FAB auth manager with database-backed sessions. When the victim or an administrator later changes the password through the Admin user-edit PATCH endpoint - believing this evicts any intruder - the existing DB-backed session is never invalidated, so the attacker's stolen cookie keeps authenticating them with full access as that user. No public exploit code is identified, and the attacker needs no interaction with the endpoint itself. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv2 – Sep 17, 2026
Stolen database-backed session cookies keep working after a password change in Apache Airflow deployments that use the FAB auth manager (apache-airflow-providers-fab 3.2.0 through 3.9.0), so an attacker already holding a copy of a victim's session cookie is never evicted and retains full access as that user. The flaw is CWE-613 (insufficient session expiration): the Admin user-edit PATCH endpoint applies the new password but never calls the session-invalidation helper, and the trigger is a routine password change performed by an administrator or the user themselves - no interaction by the attacker is required. The vendor scores this 9.1, while our independent assessment is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N, because exploitation depends entirely on a prior, separate session-cookie theft and on the non-default database-backed session configuration, making this a post-compromise persistence/containment failure rather than an initial access vector. EPSS is low at 0.19% (9th percentile); no public exploit code and no CISA KEV entry were identified at time of analysis, and a vendor-released patch exists in version 3.9.0.
Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
Password changes made through the Apache Airflow FAB provider's Admin user-edit PATCH endpoint do not invalidate that user's existing database-backed sessions, so anyone already holding a copy of the victim's session cookie keeps full access to the account after the reset. The flaw affects apache-airflow-providers-fab 3.2.0 up to (but not including) 3.9.0 in deployments using the FAB auth manager with database-backed sessions, and it is a second, independent route to the outcome addressed by CVE-2026-82311 — applying that earlier fix alone does not remediate this endpoint. The advisory rates the issue moderate; no public exploit code, CISA KEV listing, or EPSS score was provided with the intelligence supplied.
RemediationAI
Upgrade apache-airflow-providers-fab to version 3.9.0 or later, which is the vendor-released fix; the upstream change is apache/airflow PR 72657 (https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/72657), and note that applying the earlier CVE-2026-82311 fix alone is explicitly insufficient because the PATCH path never invoked the invalidation helper. Until the upgrade is deployed, stop rotating passwords through the Admin user-edit PATCH endpoint and use the reset_password workflow instead, which already terminates sessions - the trade-off is that the reset flow may involve email/token delivery and cannot be scripted identically to the API PATCH call. As a compensating control, purge the target user's rows from the database-backed session store immediately after any password change performed via the PATCH API (for example by running the provider's session-reset code or clearing the session table for that user), accepting that this forces the legitimate user to re-authenticate and that it must be applied manually every time until patched. Switching the auth manager away from database-backed sessions to the alternative session backend removes the persistence primitive but sacrifices server-side, centrally revocable sessions and per-session auditability, so evaluate that against your threat model rather than adopting it casually. Because exploitation requires an already-captured cookie, also treat any suspected cookie theft as an active incident: rotate Airflow session signing credentials where applicable, shorten session lifetimes, and force credential changes for potentially affected accounts. Background and coordination details are in the Apache thread at https://lists.apache.org/thread/7sr4sggfv5fhhl3qgphcq0rlhg81do1s and the oss-security advisories at https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2026/q3/793 and https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2026/q3/794.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The affected component is the Flask AppBuilder (FAB) auth manager provider for Apache Airflow, specifically the FastAPI-based user-management service at providers/fab/src/airflow/providers/fab/auth_manager/api_fastapi/services/users.py. Airflow deployments using this auth manager can store sessions server-side in a database table rather than in signed client-side cookies; server-side sessions are normally revoked with the security_manager.reset_user_sessions() helper, which deletes the corresponding session rows. The vulnerability class is CWE-613, insufficient session expiration: the update_user() PATCH handler persists the new password via security_manager.update_user() but never invokes reset_user_sessions(), so rows for sessions created under the old password remain valid and continue to authenticate the holder. This is a second, independent route to the outcome partially addressed by CVE-2026-82311, which only corrected an identifier comparison inside the invalidation helper; that fix cannot help here because the PATCH code path never reaches the helper at all. The upstream fix in apache/airflow PR 72657 tracks a password_changed flag, treats a False return from security_manager.update_user() (rollback on failure) as an HTTP 500 instead of a false success, and calls reset_user_sessions(user) - deliberately after successful persistence, since invalidating first would log the user out even when the password update failed and left the old password working. The same PR confirms the alternative reset_password path already invalidated sessions, and that field updates outside the password mask (or a password value excluded by the update mask) must not end sessions. Note that PR 72657 is an upstream code change for the 3.9.0 release line rather than a standalone hotfix branch.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
AC:H because exploitation requires a pre-stolen session cookie plus non-default database-backed sessions; C:H/I:H as the retained session grants full account access; A:N.
Primary rating from Vendor (CNA).
CVSS VectorVendor
Lifecycle Timeline
3Description PRE-NVD
Executive ViewAI
Apache Airflow deployments using the FAB auth manager (apache-airflow-providers-fab 3.2.0 through 3.9.0) with database-backed sessions fail to invalidate stolen session cookies after a password change, allowing an attacker who already holds a cookie to retain full user access and defeat containment efforts. This creates a post-compromise persistence risk for affected Airflow environments, potentially exposing orchestration workflows, connected data, and administrative actions; no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Patch available per vendor advisory.
Apply vendor patch.
Threat Intelligence Overview
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
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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EUVD-2026-80320
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
Exploit-DB