CVE-2026-42359 PUBLISHED

Apache Airflow: Authenticated RCE via XCom PATCH endpoint — XComUpdateBody missing FORBIDDEN_XCOM_KEYS validator

Assigner: apache
Reserved: 26.04.2026 Published: 01.06.2026 Updated: 01.06.2026

A bug in Apache Airflow's XCom PATCH endpoint PATCH /api/v2/xcomEntries/{key} allowed an authenticated UI/API user with XCom write permission on a Dag to set XCom entries under reserved key names (e.g. return_value) that the matching POST endpoint already validated against FORBIDDEN_XCOM_KEYS. The endpoint also accepted serialized payload shapes the triggerer's deserializer treats as code; combined, this allowed RCE on the triggerer when the affected task next deferred. Affects deployments where untrusted users have XCom write permission on Dags that defer to the triggerer. This is a fix-bypass of CVE-2026-33858: PR #64148 added the FORBIDDEN_XCOM_KEYS validator only on the POST/set path; the PATCH path was not covered. Users who already upgraded for CVE-2026-33858 should additionally upgrade to apache-airflow 3.2.2 or later to cover the PATCH-path bypass.

Product Status

Vendor Apache Software Foundation
Product Apache Airflow
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 3.2.0 to 3.2.2 (excl.)

Credits

  • Jeff Vier (`@boinger`); Izat (Anisto Mejin) — placeholders; receipt-of-confirmation replies ask each reporter to confirm preferred credit form finder
  • Venkatraman Kumar (r3dw0lfsec), Securin finder
  • Jarek Potiuk remediation developer

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data CWE