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GHSA-pm87-24wq-r8w9 BIT-airflow-2023-40273 CVE-2023-40273 PYSEC-2023-158

Apache Airflow Session Fixation vulnerability

High PyPI
Severity
0.0 / 10
High · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS)
1.85%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 79.05% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-384 Session Fixation
Fix
2.7.0rc2
Upgrade apache-airflow to this version or later

Description

The session fixation vulnerability allowed the authenticated user to continue accessing Airflow webserver even after the password of the user has been reset by the admin - up until the expiry of the session of the user. Other than manually cleaning the session database (for database session backend), or changing the secure_key and restarting the webserver, there were no mechanisms to force-logout the user (and all other users with that).

With this fix implemented, when using the database session backend, the existing sessions of the user are invalidated when the password of the user is reset. When using the securecookie session backend, the sessions are NOT invalidated and still require changing the secure key and restarting the webserver (and logging out all other users), but the user resetting the password is informed about it with a flash message warning displayed in the UI. Documentation is also updated explaining this behaviour.

Users of Apache Airflow are advised to upgrade to version 2.7.0 or newer to mitigate the risk associated with this vulnerability.

Affected versions

PyPI

PackageVulnerableFixed in
apache-airflow
< 2.7.0rc2
2.7.0rc2
apache-airflow
< 2.7.1rc1
2.7.1rc1

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

apache-airflow PyPI → 2.7.0rc2

pip
pip install --upgrade "apache-airflow>=2.7.0rc2"
poetry
poetry add "apache-airflow>=2.7.0rc2"
uv
uv add "apache-airflow>=2.7.0rc2"

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Passive
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
High
Integrity (vulnerable system)
High
Availability (vulnerable system)
High
Confidentiality (subsequent systems)
None
Integrity (subsequent systems)
None
Availability (subsequent systems)
None

CVSS 3.1 8.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Weakness

CWE-384: Session Fixation

Authenticating a user, or otherwise establishing a new user session, without invalidating any existing session identifier gives an attacker the opportunity to steal authenticated sessions.

How to prevent it
  • Architecture and Design: Invalidate any existing session identifiers prior to authorizing a new user session.
  • Architecture and Design: For platforms such as ASP that do not generate new values for sessionid cookies, utilize a secondary cookie. In this approach, set a secondary cookie on the user's browser to a random value and set a session variable to the same value. If the session variable and the cookie value ever don't match, invalidate the session, and force the user to log on again.
  • Operation: Use an application firewall that can detect attacks against this weakness. It can be beneficial in cases in which the code cannot be fixed (because it is controlled by a third party), as an emergency prevention measure while more comprehensive software assurance measures are applied, or to provide defense in depth [REF-1481].

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
CVE-2020-13927
Authentication bypass in Apache Airflow
Critical Known exploited Also affects apache-airflow
CVE-2020-11978
Remote code execution (RCE) in Apache Airflow
High Known exploited Also affects apache-airflow
PYSEC-2026-3990
Apache Airflow: the Core API logout endpoint revokes only a session token presented as the _token cookie.
Critical Also affects apache-airflow
PYSEC-2026-3989
When a request to the Airflow core API carries both a session cookie and an explicit `Authorization: Bearer` token, Airflow resolves the caller from the cookie…
Medium Also affects apache-airflow
PYSEC-2026-3988
Apache Airflow's `/assets/events` API returned asset events for every Dag in the deployment, with no filter restricting them to the Dags the caller is…
Medium Also affects apache-airflow
GHSA-5247-m8w9-2v4m
Apache Airflow missing team context permits cross-team Dag actions and XCom reads
Medium Also affects apache-airflow
GHSA-f3c2-j7g8-vpp8
Apache Airflow Task SDK fails to mask list-shaped JSON Variables
Medium Also affects apache-airflow
GHSA-cjv4-7hp2-2x9h
Apache Airflow bulk endpoints log Variable and Connection secrets in cleartext
Medium Also affects apache-airflow
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