Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-39877

RCE in Apache Airflow 2.4.0 – 2.9.3

Published
17 July 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
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 0.017 75th percentile
Risk Priority 67 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-39877 is a high-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Apache Airflow. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 25% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-6 (Least Privilege) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Apache Airflow 2.4.0, and versions before 2.9.3, has a vulnerability that allows authenticated DAG authors to craft a doc_md parameter in a way that could execute arbitrary code in the scheduler context, which should be forbidden according to the Airflow…

more

Security model. Users should upgrade to version 2.9.3 or later which has removed the vulnerability.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.002 AppleScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.005 Visual Basic Execution
Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution.
T1059.006 Python Execution
Adversaries may abuse Python commands and scripts for execution.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2022-40127Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2025-54550Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2024-56373Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2020-11978Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2022-24288Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2021-38540Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2020-13927Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2023-25695Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2023-22884Same product: Apache Airflow
CVE-2026-40563Same vendor: Apache

Affected Assets

apache
airflow
2.4.0 — 2.9.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.3.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Least privilege requires that only the minimal necessary permissions are granted, which structurally prevents the definition and inheritance of overly broad permissions.

Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from being used to construct executable code without neutralization.

Access enforcement directly stops insecure inherited permissions from being applied to new objects by requiring all access decisions to follow approved authorizations.

Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.

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
prevents

Directly addresses defining and enforcing secure access permissions and least privilege, which prevents insecure inheritance.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Configuration management practices include establishing secure permission baselines that avoid insecure inheritance.

PR.DS-10 none match
prevents

PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.

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.

finds

Security testing may detect permission issues but does not prevent insecure inheritance by design.

degrades

Privileged access rights management can limit inheritance of excessive permissions but does not directly address insecure default permission inheritance.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle practices can include permission model reviews but do not guarantee secure inherited permissions.

prevents

Secure system architecture principles can incorporate least-privilege permission models but do not specifically mandate secure inheritance.

prevents

Banning unapproved code samples and unauthenticated web services, combined with secure-coding standards and SAST, prevents the dynamic generation or inclusion of attacker-supplied code.

degrades

Information access restriction policies can reduce risk from inherited permissions but do not enforce secure permission inheritance at creation time.

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` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows Server 2016 (2 rules)
  • V-224974 Domain-created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-277
  • V-224972 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-277
Windows Server 2019 (2 rules)
  • V-205743 Windows Server 2019 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-277
  • V-205741 Windows Server 2019 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-277
Windows Server 2022 (1 rule)
  • V-254395 Windows Server 2022 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-277

References