CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2022-40954 — Apache Airflow security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') vulnerability in Apache Airflow Spark Provider, Apache Airflow allows an attacker to read arbtrary files in the task execution context, without write access to DAG files. This issue affects Spark Provider versions prior to 4.0.0. It also impacts any Apache Airflow versions prior to 2.3.0 in case Spark Provider is installed (Spark Provider 4.0.0 can only be installed for Airflow 2.3.0+). Note that you need to manually install the Spark Provider version 4.0.0 in order to get rid of the vulnerability on top of Airflow 2.3.0+ version that has lower version of the Spark Provider installed).

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2022-11-22
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-78

Affected products

  • apache / airflow
  • apache / apache-airflow-providers-apache-spark

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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