CVE-2026-96285: Insecure Deserialization (CVSS 8.8)

Description

Apache Airflow 3.3.1 shipped a fix for CVE-2026-67260 that checks the scheduler's decoded `next_kwargs` value is a dictionary, but performs that check only after deserializing the whole stored payload. Deserialization reconstructs nested objects of classes permitted by the deserialization allow-list — which by default includes Airflow's own classes — and runs their constructors inside the scheduler process before the check can reject the value. A Dag author, who controls a task's `next_kwargs` through the task execution API, can therefore still trigger constructor execution in the scheduler when the `awaiting_input` timeout sweep processes the task, and in the API server when the task instance is served to a worker using an older Execution API version; no non-default configuration is required. Versions before 3.3.0 are not affected. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-67260: deployments that upgraded to 3.3.1 for that issue must also upgrade to apache-airflow 3.4.0 or later.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

8.8

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0021

Probability of exploitation

0.12%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data

References

Other References

https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/73576 https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/73577 https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/5grvgsjw0c47q0pko8vnfy35drj4jyck https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-67260

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-96285? +

Apache Airflow 3.3.1 shipped a fix for CVE-2026-67260 that checks the scheduler's decoded `next_kwargs` value is a dictionary, but performs that check only after deserializing the whole stored payload. Deserialization reconstructs nested objects of classes permitted by the deserialization allow-list — which by default includes Airflow's own classes — and runs their constructors inside the scheduler process before the check can reject the value. A Dag author, who controls a task's `next_kwargs` through the task execution API, can therefore still trigger constructor execution in the scheduler when the `awaiting_input` timeout sweep processes the task, and in the API server when the task instance is served to a worker using an older Execution API version; no non-default configuration is required. Versions before 3.3.0 are not affected. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-67260: deployments that upgraded to 3.3.1 for that issue must also upgrade to apache-airflow 3.4.0 or later. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2026-96285? +

CVE-2026-96285 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.8 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching. The EPSS score is 0.0021, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-96285? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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