Medium severity · published Jun 1, 2026
CVE-2026-42358
Apache Airflow: Variable masker depth-limit bypass returns cleartext nested secrets
6.5
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A bug in Apache Airflow's Variable response masker caused nested-key redaction (triggered by secret-suffixed key names like `password`, `token`, `secret`, `api_key`) to be bypassed when the JSON value's nesting depth exceeded the shared secrets masker's recursion limit: the masker returned the original nested item before checking the sensitive key name. An authenticated UI/API user with Variable read permission could harvest plaintext secret values stored under sensitive keys nested deep enough to exceed the masker's depth cap. Affects deployments that store sensitive values inside deeply-nested JSON Variables. This is a residual gap in the fix for CVE-2026-32690 (which covered shallower nesting via `max_depth=1`); the depth-limit boundary itself was not raised, so the same key-name bypass pattern reappears beyond the recursion cap. Users who already upgraded for CVE-2026-32690 should additionally upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later to cover the deep-nesting path.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 27% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AA
Apache Airflow · Apache Software Foundation
before 3.2.2 · source: vendor
AI
Airflow · Apache
before 3.2.2 · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42358
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-42358
Issue Tracking
https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/65912
Mailing List
https://lists.apache.org/thread/33635mv3zjb75wn5453c5yf9trs8x2om
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