CVE-2023-28710 in Airflow Spark Provider
Summary
by MITRE • 04/07/2023
Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache Airflow Spark Provider.This issue affects Apache Airflow Spark Provider: before 4.0.1.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/23/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-28710 represents an improper input validation flaw within the Apache Software Foundation's Apache Airflow Spark Provider component. This security weakness exists in versions prior to 4.0.1 and specifically targets the validation mechanisms that process user-provided inputs within the Spark provider functionality. The affected component serves as a bridge between Apache Airflow workflow orchestration platform and Apache Spark distributed computing framework, enabling users to execute spark jobs through airflow workflows.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of input parameters that are passed to the Spark provider operations. When users submit spark job configurations or parameters through Airflow workflows, the system fails to adequately sanitize or validate these inputs before processing them within the Spark execution environment. This improper validation creates a potential attack surface where maliciously crafted inputs could bypass normal security checks and potentially lead to unauthorized operations or system compromise. The vulnerability manifests when the system processes user-supplied data without proper bounds checking, type validation, or sanitization routines that would normally prevent dangerous input from being executed.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data integrity concerns as it could enable attackers to manipulate the spark job execution environment through carefully crafted inputs. An attacker who can influence the input parameters passed to spark jobs might potentially execute arbitrary commands, access unauthorized resources, or disrupt normal workflow operations. This risk is particularly significant in enterprise environments where Airflow is used to orchestrate complex data processing pipelines that may involve sensitive data and critical business operations. The vulnerability could be exploited to escalate privileges within the spark execution context or to gain unauthorized access to underlying data sources that the spark jobs interact with.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-28710 primarily focus on upgrading to Apache Airflow Spark Provider version 4.0.1 or later, which contains the necessary input validation fixes. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures such as input sanitization at multiple layers of their deployment architecture, including network-level filtering and application-level validation. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which catalogs improper input validation as a fundamental security weakness that frequently leads to various exploit vectors including command injection, code execution, and data manipulation attacks. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability could be leveraged in the execution phase of an attack, potentially enabling adversaries to gain access to system resources or escalate privileges within the spark computing environment. Organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify all systems running affected versions of the Spark Provider and implement comprehensive monitoring to detect any suspicious input patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts.