Summary
Apache Airflow environment-variable secrets backend permits cross-team credential use
Apache Airflow's environment-variable secrets backend resolved a team-scoped Connection or Variable from the wrong team's scope. The guard meant to prevent this only ran when no team scope was supplied, and its pattern could not match a team name containing an underscore, which team names are allowed to contain. When the guard did not apply, the lookup fell through to an unconditional global read that resolved the stored AIRFLOW_CONN__<TEAM>___<ID> variable regardless of which team asked. In multi-team mode an authenticated user of one team could therefore have POST /api/v2/connections/test resolve another team's Connection and authenticate outward with that team's credentials; the endpoint uses the credentials rather than returning them. Exploitation requires [core] multi_team enabled, [core] test_connection set to Enabled (it ships Disabled), team-scoped secrets provisioned as environment variables in the API-server process, and knowledge of the encoded identifier. Redirecting the test at an attacker-controlled host is separately blocked. Users are advised to upgrade to apache-airflow 3.3.1 or later.
Impact
CVE-2026-68076 has a CVSS score of 5.4 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (3.3.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-68076? CVE-2026-68076 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in apache-airflow (pip), affecting versions < 3.3.1. It is fixed in 3.3.1.
- How severe is CVE-2026-68076? CVE-2026-68076 has a CVSS score of 5.4 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of apache-airflow are affected by CVE-2026-68076? apache-airflow (pip) versions < 3.3.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-68076? Yes. CVE-2026-68076 is fixed in 3.3.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-68076 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-68076 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-68076 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-68076? Upgrade
apache-airflowto 3.3.1 or later.