CVE-2026-111454 in Airflow
Summary
by MITRE • 11/09/2026
Apache Airflow's asset API endpoints returned the IDs of Dags that are scheduled on, produce, or consume an asset without checking whether the caller may read those Dags. An authenticated user with asset read access could learn the IDs of Dags they are not authorized to see. Users are advised to upgrade to apache-airflow 3.4.0 or later.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/09/2026
The vulnerability in Apache Airflow stems from an authorization bypass within its Asset API endpoints, specifically affecting how DAG identifiers are exposed during asset-related queries. In a properly secured system, access control checks must be performed not only for the primary resource being accessed but also for any related or dependent resources that are returned as part of the response payload. In this instance, when an authenticated user requests information about assets they have permission to read, the API endpoint retrieves and returns metadata including the IDs of DAGs associated with those assets. These associations include DAGs that schedule tasks producing the asset, consume it, or interact with it in other ways. Crucially, the implementation fails to validate whether the requesting user has explicit read permissions for each of these linked DAGs before exposing their identifiers.
This flaw represents a classic case of Insecure Direct Object Reference combined with insufficient access control enforcement on related entities. From an industry standard perspective, this aligns closely with CWE-284 Improper Access Control and CWE-601 URL Redirection to Untrusted Site which can lead to information disclosure if the IDs are used in subsequent requests or simply reveal internal architecture details. The vulnerability allows an attacker who possesses valid credentials for asset read access to enumerate DAG identifiers that should remain hidden from them. This is particularly dangerous because DAG IDs often serve as primary keys for further API interactions, potentially enabling unauthorized users to probe other endpoints using these discovered IDs if additional validation gaps exist elsewhere in the system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability centers on information disclosure and potential privilege escalation through enumeration. By learning the existence and identifiers of restricted DAGs, an authenticated user can map out the organization's data pipeline structure without proper authorization. This knowledge could be leveraged to identify high-value targets for further attacks or to understand business logic flows that are intended to be confidential. While the immediate risk is limited to information leakage rather than direct code execution, it significantly reduces the security boundary by exposing internal system topology and potentially facilitating more sophisticated multi-stage attack vectors against other components of the Airflow deployment.
To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations must upgrade Apache Airflow to version 3.4.0 or later where these authorization checks have been corrected. In addition to upgrading, administrators should review their access control policies to ensure that asset permissions are tightly coupled with DAG-level permissions wherever possible. Implementing strict role-based access controls and regularly auditing API endpoint responses for unintended data leakage is recommended as a defense-in-depth strategy. Security teams should also monitor logs for unusual patterns of asset queries followed by rapid enumeration attempts against discovered DAG IDs, which could indicate exploitation activity consistent with ATT&CK technique T1087 Account Discovery or T1592 Gather Victim Host Information depending on the subsequent actions taken by an adversary leveraging this flaw.