Security Resilience

CVE-2023-39508

Info Disclosure in Apache Airflow ≤ 2.6.0

Published
05 August 2023
Modified
13 February 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.026 85th percentile
Risk Priority 69 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-39508 is a high-severity Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (CWE-200) vulnerability in Apache Airflow. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 15% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Execution with Unnecessary Privileges, : Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache Airflow.The "Run Task" feature enables authenticated user to bypass some of the restrictions put in place. It allows to execute code…

more

in the webserver context as well as allows to bypas limitation of access the user has to certain DAGs. The "Run Task" feature is considered dangerous and it has been removed entirely in Airflow 2.6.0 This issue affects Apache Airflow: before 2.6.0.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
T1027.003 Steganography Stealth
Adversaries may use steganography techniques in order to prevent the detection of hidden information.
T1027.004 Compile After Delivery Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to make payloads difficult to discover and analyze by delivering files to victims as uncompiled code.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-62402Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2025-62503Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2024-45034Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2026-45192Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2026-48892Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2026-42360Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2023-40712Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2023-42780Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2026-49487Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2026-24098Same product: Apache Airflow

Affected Assets

apache
airflow
≤ 2.6.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 4 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V10.2.3
  • V13.2.2

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-200 CWE-250

Audit record review and analysis can detect unauthorized exposure or access to sensitive information.

addresses: CWE-200 CWE-250

Trained staff understand data-handling requirements and are less likely to expose sensitive information through misconfiguration or poor design.

addresses: CWE-200 CWE-250

Minimal information storage directly reduces the quantity of sensitive data resident on the component that could be exposed.

addresses: CWE-250

Policy promotes least privilege by defining necessary privileges and management commitment to them.

addresses: CWE-250

Supervision detects and allows removal of unnecessary privileges that enable execution with excess rights.

addresses: CWE-200

Automated marking applies security attributes to system outputs, making it harder for attackers to exploit unmarked sensitive information leading to unauthorized exposure.

addresses: CWE-200

Proper attribute retention and permitted-value enforcement limits unauthorized actors from accessing sensitive information lacking correct labels.

addresses: CWE-250

Reviewing accounts for compliance, disabling/removing unneeded accounts, and aligning with termination processes prevents execution with unnecessary privileges.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
blocks

PR.AA-05 directly enforces least privilege so largely eliminates CWE-250 at design time, yet the weakness can still arise from runtime escalation paths, third-party code, or misapplied role definitions outside this single control.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

blocks

A.5.10 only requires awareness, a topic-specific acceptable-use policy stating expected behaviours/monitoring, and procedures referencing classification and other controls; per the owner's explicit rule on labelling and similar dependency-style clauses, this does not itself prevent exposure (CWE-200) unless access/DLP/etc. act on it.

blocks

Requiring the return of all physical and electronic assets plus secure deletion of organizational data from personal devices reduces the chance that sensitive information remains accessible to departing personnel.

blocks

A.5.12 only defines and communicates a classification scheme so that protection needs can be understood; per the owner's explicit rule, labeling/classification does not itself prevent exposure and requires other controls (e.g. access enforcement) to act on it.

blocks

By requiring classification labels and metadata on all information assets, the control makes it harder for sensitive data to be inadvertently exposed because downstream systems and users can recognize and enforce handling rules based on those labels.

blocks

Requiring encryption, access controls, and recipient authentication for transfers directly reduces the chance that sensitive data reaches an unauthorized observer.

blocks

A.5.15's policy, requirements, and rules for determining/minimizing access rights (incl. privileged access restrictions, need-to-know, least-privilege-like mapping, and role-based consistency) directly stop most unnecessary-privilege execution by design; bounded remainder is runtime elevation or misconfigured enforcement that still requires other controls (e.g. 8.2, 8.3) to act.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220712 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. blocks CWE-250
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-225007 Only administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system must have Administrator rights on the system. blocks CWE-250
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205746 Windows Server 2019 must only allow Administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. blocks CWE-250

References