CVE-2023-50943VulnerabilityPublished 24 Jan 2024Updated 30 May 2025

CVE-2023-50943: Apache Airflow · Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Affects Apache AirflowSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 2.8.1 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 68% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2.8.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Jan 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade apache-airflow to 2.8.1.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
PyPIapache-airflow`pkg:pypi/apache-airflow`Other threats	Affected <2.8.1	Fixed in 2.8.1

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately upgrade all Apache Airflow deployments to version 2.8.1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Beyond upgrading, organizations should enforce strict access controls and auditing on DAG authoring capabilities to limit who can create or modify workflows. Implement role-based access control (RBAC) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for developer and operator accounts with DAG editing privileges. Regularly review and monitor DAG code repositories and Airflow logs for unauthorized changes or suspicious activity. Additionally, consider isolating Airflow environments and restricting network access to trusted users and systems only. Employ runtime application self-protection (RASP) or behavior monitoring tools to detect anomalous deserialization behavior. Finally, conduct security awareness training for developers and operators about the risks of deserialization vulnerabilities and secure coding practices.

Description

Apache Airflow, versions before 2.8.1, have a vulnerability that allows a potential attacker to poison the XCom data by bypassing the protection of "enable_xcom_pickling=False" configuration setting resulting in poisoned data after XCom deserialization. This vulnerability is considered low since it requires a DAG author to exploit it. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 2.8.1 or later, which fixes this issue.

Impact

For European organizations using Apache Airflow, especially in data engineering, analytics, and workflow orchestration contexts, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the integrity of their data pipelines. An attacker exploiting this flaw could inject malicious code or manipulate task outputs, potentially leading to corrupted data, unauthorized actions within workflows, or lateral movement within the infrastructure. This could disrupt critical business processes, cause data corruption, and undermine trust in automated workflows. Given Airflow's widespread adoption in sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and manufacturing across Europe, the impact could extend to regulatory compliance issues, especially under GDPR if data integrity or processing is compromised. The requirement for DAG authoring privileges limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, as insider threats or compromised developer accounts could be leveraged. The absence of known exploits suggests that proactive patching can effectively mitigate risk before widespread exploitation occurs.

CWE-502Deserialization of Untrusted Data (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #15OWASP Top 10 A08:2025: Software or Data Integrity Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
If available, use the signing/sealing features of the programming language to assure that deserialized data has not been tainted. For example, a hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) could be used to ensure that data has not been modified.
Implementation
When deserializing data, populate a new object rather than just deserializing. The result is that the data flows through safe input validation and that the functions are safe.
Implementation
Explicitly define a final object() to prevent deserialization.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
XML External Entity Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Software Supply Chain Security (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
V5.5.3 (opens in a new tab)
V5.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Object Injection (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 8 Jul 2025, 19:27 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-502

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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