CVE-2025-68438
Published: 16 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-68438 is a high-severity Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (CWE-200) vulnerability in Apache Airflow. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 6.3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Likely Mitigating ControlsAI
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.
Automated marking applies security attributes to system outputs, making it harder for attackers to exploit unmarked sensitive information leading to unauthorized exposure.
Proper attribute retention and permitted-value enforcement limits unauthorized actors from accessing sensitive information lacking correct labels.
Prevents unauthorized exposure of sensitive information by prohibiting untrusted external systems from processing or storing it.
By enforcing authorization matching prior to sharing, the control reduces the risk of exposing sensitive information to unauthorized actors.
Review and removal of nonpublic information from publicly accessible systems directly prevents exposure of sensitive data to unauthorized actors.
Data mining protection mechanisms detect and block unauthorized bulk extraction of sensitive data, directly mitigating exposure to unauthorized actors.
Literacy training teaches users to recognize and avoid actions that result in unauthorized exposure of sensitive information.
Retaining and monitoring training records confirms personnel have completed privacy and security awareness training on handling sensitive data, reducing the chance of unauthorized exposure due to lack of knowledge.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerability in public-facing Airflow web UI directly enables exploitation for sensitive data/credential exposure (T1190); resulting plaintext secret leakage maps to unsecured credentials access (T1552).
NVD Description
In Apache Airflow versions before 3.1.6, when rendered template fields in a Dag exceed [core] max_templated_field_length, sensitive values could be exposed in cleartext in the Rendered Templates UI. This occurred because serialization of those fields used a secrets masker instance…
more
that did not include user-registered mask_secret() patterns, so secrets were not reliably masked before truncation and display. Users are recommended to upgrade to 3.1.6 or later, which fixes this issue
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-68438 is a vulnerability in Apache Airflow versions before 3.1.6 that exposes sensitive information. Specifically, when rendered template fields in a DAG exceed the configured [core] max_templated_field_length, sensitive values can appear in cleartext in the Rendered Templates UI. This issue stems from the serialization of those fields using a secrets masker instance that does not incorporate user-registered mask_secret() patterns, preventing reliable masking of secrets prior to truncation and display. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).
Any unauthenticated attacker with network access to the Airflow web interface can exploit this vulnerability without requiring privileges or user interaction. By viewing the Rendered Templates UI for a DAG containing templated fields longer than the max_templated_field_length threshold and embedding secrets, the attacker can obtain those secrets in plaintext after truncation, achieving high-impact confidentiality violations such as leakage of credentials or other sensitive data.
Apache Airflow advisories recommend upgrading to version 3.1.6 or later, which resolves the issue by ensuring the secrets masker includes user-registered patterns during serialization. Additional details are provided in the official Apache announcement at https://lists.apache.org/thread/55n7b4nlsz3vo5n4h5lrj9bfsk8ctyff and the OSS-Security mailing list post at http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/15/5.
Details
- CWE(s)