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CVE-2020-11978

Apache Airflow Command Injection

8.8 HIGHActively exploited (CISA KEV)Public exploitEPSS 99.2%
  1. Published16 Jul 2020
  2. Added to CISA KEV18 Jan 2022
  3. Remediation due18 Jul 2022
Actively exploited (CISA KEV)

A remote code/command injection vulnerability was discovered in one of the example DAGs shipped with Airflow.

Added to KEV: 18 Jan 2022Federal remediation due: 18 Jul 2022

Description

An issue was found in Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below. A remote code/command injection vulnerability was discovered in one of the example DAGs shipped with Airflow which would allow any authenticated user to run arbitrary commands as the user running airflow worker/scheduler (depending on the executor in use). If you already have examples disabled by setting load_examples=False in the config then you are not vulnerable.

CVSS 3.1 breakdown

Attack vectorNetwork
Attack complexityLow
Privileges requiredLow
User interactionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Apache Airflow< 1.10.11

Remediation

Fixed in
Apache Airflow≥ 1.10.11

References

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Frequently asked

Is CVE-2020-11978 being actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-11978 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added 18 Jan 2022.

How severe is CVE-2020-11978?

CVE-2020-11978 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8, rated high. EPSS estimates a 99.2% probability of exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2020-11978?

Affected products include Apache Airflow.

How do I fix CVE-2020-11978?

Upgrade affected software to a fixed version, for example Apache Airflow 1.10.11 or later, then confirm no affected versions remain in your inventory.

How Secuno handles this

Secuno correlates vulnerabilities like CVE-2020-11978 against the real software inventory on every managed device, as each hourly inventory arrives. Rather than a static severity, each match is scored in context: exploit availability, EPSS, the asset's exposure, and business criticality decide where it lands in the queue. Because it is on the CISA KEV list, a risk for it never ranks below high, and the update that fixes it moves to the Emergency patch lane. If an affected version is present anywhere across your portfolio, it surfaces automatically with a prioritised remediation path.

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Data from the NVD, CISA KEV catalog and FIRST EPSS. CVSS 3.1 base score shown where available.