CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-40273 — Apache Airflow security vulnerability

High CVSS 8

The session fixation vulnerability allowed the authenticated user to continue accessing Airflow webserver even after the password of the user has been reset by the admin - up until the expiry of the session of the user. Other than manually cleaning the session database (for database session backend), or changing the secure_key and restarting the webserver, there were no mechanisms to force-logout the user (and all other users with that). With this fix implemented, when using the database session backend, the existing sessions of the user are invalidated when the password of the user is reset. When using the securecookie session backend, the sessions are NOT invalidated and still require changing the secure key and restarting the webserver (and logging out all other users), but the user resetting the password is informed about it with a flash message warning displayed in the UI. Documentation is also updated explaining this behaviour. Users of Apache Airflow are advised to upgrade to version 2.7.0 or newer to mitigate the risk associated with this vulnerability.

Severity
High
CVSS
8 (3.1)
Published
2023-08-23
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-384

Affected products

  • apache / airflow

Matched remediation archetype

General vulnerability remediation

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Confirm the affected component, deployment paths, reachable interfaces, and enabled features from inventories and configuration, without probing production destructively.
  • Compare the advisory's affected conditions with the repository lockfiles, build manifests, artifacts, and runtime inventory.
  • Identify data sensitivity, trust boundaries, and privilege level for every confirmed affected deployment.

Remediate safely

  • Apply a vendor-supported fix or remove the affected component or feature; record the selected change and its source in the repository.
  • Update direct and transitive dependency locks, generated artifacts, deployment manifests, and asset inventories together.
  • Add a regression test for the documented unsafe condition using inert inputs and preserve rollback instructions.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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