FKIE_CVE-2021-38540

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2021-09-09 15:15 - Updated: 2026-06-17 04:02
Severity
9.8 (Critical) - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Summary
The variable import endpoint was not protected by authentication in Airflow >=2.0.0, <2.1.3. This allowed unauthenticated users to hit that endpoint to add/modify Airflow variables used in DAGs, potentially resulting in a denial of service, information disclosure or remote code execution. This issue affects Apache Airflow >=2.0.0, <2.1.3.
References
security@apache.orghttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rac2ed9118f64733e47b4f1e82ddc8c8020774698f13328ca742b03a2%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
security@apache.orghttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb34c3dd1a815456355217eef34060789f771b6f77c3a3dec77de2064%40%3Cusers.airflow.apache.org%3EMailing List, Vendor Advisory
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rac2ed9118f64733e47b4f1e82ddc8c8020774698f13328ca742b03a2%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb34c3dd1a815456355217eef34060789f771b6f77c3a3dec77de2064%40%3Cusers.airflow.apache.org%3EMailing List, Vendor Advisory
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
apache airflow *
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "product": "Apache Airflow",
          "vendor": "Apache Software Foundation",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "2.1.3",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "Apache Airflow",
              "versionType": "custom"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": "security@apache.org"
    }
  ],
  "configurations": [
    {
      "nodes": [
        {
          "cpeMatch": [
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:airflow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "matchCriteriaId": "8DA42686-DCA0-45F1-8AB6-E56F0C9EF0C0",
              "versionEndExcluding": "2.1.3",
              "versionStartIncluding": "2.0.0",
              "vulnerable": true
            }
          ],
          "negate": false,
          "operator": "OR"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "The variable import endpoint was not protected by authentication in Airflow \u003e=2.0.0, \u003c2.1.3. This allowed unauthenticated users to hit that endpoint to add/modify Airflow variables used in DAGs, potentially resulting in a denial of service, information disclosure or remote code execution. This issue affects Apache Airflow \u003e=2.0.0, \u003c2.1.3."
    },
    {
      "lang": "es",
      "value": "El endpoint de importaci\u00f3n de variables no estaba protegido por autenticaci\u00f3n en Airflow versiones posteriores a 2.0.0 incluy\u00e9ndola, versiones anteriores a 2.1.3. Esto permit\u00eda a usuarios no autenticados acceder a ese endpoint para a\u00f1adir y modificar las variables de Airflow usadas en los DAG, resultando en una denegaci\u00f3n de servicio, una divulgaci\u00f3n de informaci\u00f3n o una ejecuci\u00f3n de c\u00f3digo remota. Este problema afecta a Apache Airflow versiones posteriores a 2.0.0 incluy\u00e9ndola, versiones anteriores a 2.1.3"
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2021-38540",
  "lastModified": "2026-06-17T04:02:19.753",
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV2": [
      {
        "acInsufInfo": false,
        "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
        "cvssData": {
          "accessComplexity": "LOW",
          "accessVector": "NETWORK",
          "authentication": "NONE",
          "availabilityImpact": "PARTIAL",
          "baseScore": 7.5,
          "confidentialityImpact": "PARTIAL",
          "integrityImpact": "PARTIAL",
          "vectorString": "AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P",
          "version": "2.0"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 10.0,
        "impactScore": 6.4,
        "obtainAllPrivilege": false,
        "obtainOtherPrivilege": false,
        "obtainUserPrivilege": false,
        "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
        "type": "Primary",
        "userInteractionRequired": false
      }
    ],
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "cvssData": {
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "baseScore": 9.8,
          "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
          "version": "3.1"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 3.9,
        "impactScore": 5.9,
        "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
        "type": "Primary"
      }
    ]
  },
  "published": "2021-09-09T15:15:09.170",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "security@apache.org",
      "url": "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rac2ed9118f64733e47b4f1e82ddc8c8020774698f13328ca742b03a2%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E"
    },
    {
      "source": "security@apache.org",
      "tags": [
        "Mailing List",
        "Vendor Advisory"
      ],
      "url": "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb34c3dd1a815456355217eef34060789f771b6f77c3a3dec77de2064%40%3Cusers.airflow.apache.org%3E"
    },
    {
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
      "url": "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rac2ed9118f64733e47b4f1e82ddc8c8020774698f13328ca742b03a2%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E"
    },
    {
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
      "tags": [
        "Mailing List",
        "Vendor Advisory"
      ],
      "url": "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb34c3dd1a815456355217eef34060789f771b6f77c3a3dec77de2064%40%3Cusers.airflow.apache.org%3E"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "security@apache.org",
  "vulnStatus": "Modified",
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-269"
        }
      ],
      "source": "security@apache.org",
      "type": "Secondary"
    },
    {
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-306"
        }
      ],
      "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
      "type": "Primary"
    }
  ]
}



Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.





Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Related by attack behaviour

Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.