Vulnerability · Published Apr 15, 2026 · Assigned by apache
CVE-2025-54550Apache Airflow: RCE by race condition in example_xcom dag
High 8.1
In plain English
A high-severity code injection in Apache Airflow from Apache Software Foundation. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.6% (higher than 48% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
The example example_xcom that was included in airflow documentation implemented unsafe pattern of reading value from xcom in the way that could be exploited to allow UI user who had access to modify XComs to perform arbitrary execution of code on the worker. Since the UI users are already highly trusted, this is a Low severity vulnerability. It does not affect Airflow release - example_dags are not supposed to be enabled in production environment, however users following the example could replicate the bad pattern. Documentation of Airflow 3.2.0 contains version of the example with improved resiliance for that case. Users who followed that pattern are advised to adjust their implementations accordingly.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| PyPI | apache-airflow | 3.2.0 | GHSA-q2hg-643c-gw8h |
| PyPI | apache-airflow | 3.2.0 | PYSEC-2026-2353 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Apache Software Foundation | Apache Airflow | 0 – before 3.0.0 |
| Apache Software Foundation | Apache Airflow | 3.0.0 – before 3.2.0 |
Weakness: CWE-94 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N