CVE-2025-50213 is a vulnerability identified in the Apache Airflow Providers Snowflake integration, specifically affecting versions prior to 6.4.0. The root cause of this vulnerability is a failure to properly sanitize special elements in the parameters used within the CopyFromExternalStageToSnowflakeOperator, which is responsible for copying data from external stages into Snowflake data warehouses. This vulnerability is categorized under CWE-75, which involves improper sanitization of special elements leading to injection attacks. In this context, the vulnerability manifests as a potential SQL injection risk, where maliciously crafted input in table and stage parameters could be injected into SQL commands executed by Snowflake, potentially allowing attackers to manipulate or execute arbitrary SQL commands. The Apache Software Foundation addressed this issue by introducing sanitation mechanisms for these parameters in version 6.4.0 of the provider. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no CVSS score has been assigned yet. The vulnerability primarily affects organizations using Apache Airflow for workflow orchestration that integrate with Snowflake data warehouses, particularly those running versions before 6.4.0 of the Snowflake provider. Given the nature of the vulnerability, exploitation could lead to unauthorized data access, data manipulation, or disruption of data workflows within Snowflake environments orchestrated by Airflow.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability could be significant, especially for enterprises relying heavily on Apache Airflow for data pipeline orchestration and Snowflake as their cloud data platform. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access or modification of sensitive data, potentially violating GDPR and other data protection regulations, resulting in legal and financial penalties. Data integrity could be compromised, affecting business intelligence, reporting, and operational decision-making. Additionally, disruption of data workflows could impact critical business processes, causing downtime or delays. Organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and manufacturing, which often handle large volumes of sensitive data and rely on complex data pipelines, are particularly at risk. The absence of known exploits suggests that immediate widespread attacks may not yet be occurring, but the presence of a publicly disclosed vulnerability increases the risk of targeted attacks or future exploitation attempts.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should prioritize upgrading the Apache Airflow Providers Snowflake package to version 6.4.0 or later, where the sanitation of table and stage parameters has been implemented to prevent SQL injection. Additionally, organizations should audit their Airflow DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graphs) and workflows to identify any usage of the CopyFromExternalStageToSnowflakeOperator and ensure that no untrusted or user-supplied input is passed to these parameters. Implementing strict input validation and employing parameterized queries or prepared statements where possible can further reduce injection risks. Monitoring and logging of Airflow task executions should be enhanced to detect anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. Organizations should also review access controls and restrict permissions for users and service accounts interacting with Airflow and Snowflake to the minimum necessary. Finally, maintaining an up-to-date inventory of Airflow providers and dependencies will help ensure timely application of security patches.