CVE-2026-45426: Exploitation requires the attacker to already be an authenticated Airflow worker holding a valid Log-server JWT issued for at least one Dag.

Exploitation requires the attacker to already be an authenticated Airflow worker holding a valid Log-server JWT issued for at least one Dag.

Exploitation requires the attacker to already be an authenticated Airflow worker holding a valid Log-server JWT issued for at least one Dag. Apache Airflow's Log server authorized JWT tokens against Dag IDs by applying Python's `str.lstrip()` to the requested path segment when verifying the JWT's `sub` claim. `str.lstrip()` strips any of a *set* of characters from the left (not a prefix), so a JWT issued for a Dag named e.g. `dag_a` would authorize log access to any other Dag whose name began with any subset of the characters `{d, a, g, _}` (e.g. `dag_attacker`, `aaaa_target`, `_dag_secret`). Such an authenticated worker could enumerate and read worker logs of other Dags whose names happened to share that character-class prefix, leaking task output and error traces beyond the documented per-Dag isolation boundary. Affects deployments relying on per-Dag log-access scoping (multi-team, shared-executor, shared-worker topologies). Users are advised to upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by security@apache.org

What it means for a small business

Apache Airflow runs on web servers, so this is mostly your hosting company's to fix. On shared hosting you can't patch it yourself, but you can ask.

Ask your host whether your server runs it, whether it's updated, and on what date. A good host answers that in a day.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.36%, higher than 29% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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