{"id":"CVE-2025-54550","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2025-54550","GHSA-q2hg-643c-gw8h"],"related":[],"title":"Withdrawn Advisory: Apache Airflow: RCE by race condition in example_xcom dag","description":"### Withdrawn Advisory\nThis advisory has been withdrawn because it only affects example implementations, not Airflow releases on PyPI. This link is maintained to preserve external references.\n\n### Original Description\nThe example example_xcom that was included in airflow documentation implemented unsafe pattern of reading value\nfrom xcom in the way that could be exploited to allow UI user who had access to modify XComs to perform arbitrary\nexecution of code on the worker. Since the UI users are already highly trusted, this is a Low severity vulnerability.\n\nIt does not affect Airflow release - example_dags are not supposed to be enabled in production environment, however\nusers following the example could replicate the bad pattern. Documentation of Airflow 3.2.0 contains version of\nthe example with improved resiliance for that case.\n\nUsers who followed that pattern are advised to adjust their implementations accordingly.","summary":"The withdrawn advisory says the example_xcom DAG in Airflow documentation read XCom values unsafely, so a UI user who could modify XComs could run arbitrary code on the worker. The advisory states the Airflow release itself is not affected, only code copied from the example.","severity":"high","cvss":8.1,"epss":0.00579,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[{"name":"apache-airflow","fixed":["3.2.0"],"affected":"< 3.2.0","ecosystem":"pypi"},{"name":"apache airflow","fixed":["3.2.0"],"affected":"< 3.2.0","ecosystem":"vendor"}],"ecosystems":["pypi","vendor"],"tags":["apache-airflow","cwe-94","data-pipelines","package","python"],"not_affected_if":["example-dags-disabled","no-copied-example-pattern"],"how_to_check":"- Check whether `example_xcom` or copies of its pattern exist in your DAG folder.\n- Check whether example DAGs are enabled in your deployment (unknown from the sources).","fix":"- Apache Airflow: fixed in `3.2.0` per the affected range; the sources say the documentation example was improved in 3.2.0.\n- Users who copied the pattern: adjust their own implementation (sources give no exact steps).","status":"withdrawn","published_at":"2026-04-15T04:17:32+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-03T17:41:47+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-11-03T17:42:41+00:00","updated_at":"2026-11-03T17:52:24+00:00","category":"package","confidence":0.6,"triage":{"at":"2026-11-03T17:42:41Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- Apache Airflow: fixed in `3.2.0` per the affected range; the sources say the documentation example was improved in 3.2.0.\n- Users who copied the pattern: adjust their own implementation (sources give no exact steps).","reach":"network","title":"Apache Airflow: example XCom DAG lets UI users run code on workers","impact":"high","summary":"The withdrawn advisory says the example_xcom DAG in Airflow documentation read XCom values unsafely, so a UI user who could modify XComs could run arbitrary code on the worker. The advisory states the Airflow release itself is not affected, only code copied from the example.","audience":"developers","category":"package","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["apache-airflow","python","data-pipelines"],"confidence":0.6,"fix_status":"available","needs_auth":"yes","worst_case":"Code runs on the Airflow worker via a crafted XCom value.","analyst_note":"","how_to_check":"- Check whether `example_xcom` or copies of its pattern exist in your DAG folder.\n- Check whether example DAGs are enabled in your deployment (unknown from the sources).","plain_action":"","needs_analyst":false,"not_affected_if":["example-dags-disabled","no-copied-example-pattern"],"who_is_affected":"Only teams that copied the example_xcom DAG pattern from the Airflow documentation into their own workflows. The advisory says the Airflow release is not affected and example DAGs should not be enabled in production, so most deployments can skip it.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"yes","severity_if_unknown":"low"},"cost_usd":0.00072,"input_tokens":4398,"output_tokens":560,"severity_before":"high"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2025':14A,22A '-54550':15A,23A '-94':33B '3.2.0':201C '643c':19A 'access':144C 'accord':224C 'adjust':221C 'advis':219C 'advisori':2A,41B,70B,86C,88C 'affect':78B,95C,174C 'airflow':4A,26A,28A,31B,48B,73B,99C,121C,175C,200C 'allow':139C 'alreadi':162C 'apach':3A,30B 'apache':25A,27A 'apache-airflow':24A,29B 'arbitrari':64B,150C 'bad':196C 'case':212C 'code':65B,80B,153C 'condit':8A 'contain':202C 'copi':81B 'could':59B,62B,135C,193C 'cve':13A,21A 'cwe':32B 'dag':12A,46B,178C 'data':35B 'data-pipelin':34B 'descript':112C 'document':49B,122C,198C 'enabl':184C 'environ':187C 'exampl':10A,44B,84B,96C,114C,115C,177C,192C,206C 'execut':151C 'exploit':137C 'extern':109C 'follow':190C,215C 'ghsa':17A 'ghsa-q2hg-643c-gw8h':16A 'gw8h':20A 'high':163C 'howev':188C 'implement':97C,123C,223C 'improv':208C 'includ':119C 'link':104C 'low':168C 'maintain':106C 'modifi':60B,146C 'origin':111C 'packag':37B 'pattern':125C,197C,217C 'perform':149C 'pipelin':36B 'preserv':108C 'product':186C 'pypi':102C 'python':38B 'q2hg':18A 'race':7A 'rce':5A 'read':50B,127C 'refer':110C 'releas':74B,100C,176C 'replic':194C 'resili':209C 'run':63B 'say':42B 'sever':169C 'sinc':157C 'state':71B 'suppos':181C 'trust':164C 'ui':56B,140C,159C 'unsaf':53B,124C 'user':57B,141C,160C,189C,213C 'valu':52B,128C 'version':203C 'vulner':170C 'way':133C 'withdrawn':1A,40B,85C,91C 'worker':68B,156C 'xcom':11A,45B,51B,61B,116C,130C,147C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Only teams that copied the example_xcom DAG pattern from the Airflow documentation into their own workflows. The advisory says the Airflow release is not affected and example DAGs should not be enabled in production, so most deployments can skip it.","tier":"B","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"available","audience":"developers","plain_action":null,"pkeys":["airflow","apacheairflow"],"ptokens":["airflow","apache"],"labels":["apacheairflow","cwe94","datapipelines","high","package","pypi","python","vendor"],"campaign_type":null,"first_public_at":"2026-04-15T04:17:32+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","cvss_by":"GitHub","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"ghsa","external_id":"GHSA-q2hg-643c-gw8h","url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-q2hg-643c-gw8h","severity":"high","published_at":"2026-04-16T15:31:31+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-03T17:39:35+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-03T17:41:47+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-03T17:52:03+00:00","note":null},{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2025-54550","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54550","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-04-15T04:17:32+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-03T07:17:20+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-03T17:52:24+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-03T17:52:24+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[{"id":59328,"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/63200","title":"Patch: github.com","kind":"other","source":"ghsa","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"fix","confidence":null,"note":"Patch: github.com"},{"id":59329,"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/commit/5350cc2791b780a8ce721e565c235921a63565c1","title":"Patch: github.com","kind":"other","source":"ghsa","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"fix","confidence":null,"note":"Patch: github.com"},{"id":59330,"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/commit/900e5e222f8ed842918134572fd6a1c3c176cf0b","title":"Patch: github.com","kind":"other","source":"ghsa","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"fix","confidence":null,"note":"Patch: github.com"},{"id":59486,"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread/3mf4cfx070ofsnf9qy0s2v5gqb5sc2g1","title":"Vendor advisory: lists.apache.org","kind":"vendor","source":"nvd","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"advisory","confidence":null,"note":"Vendor advisory: lists.apache.org"},{"id":59487,"url":"http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/15/1","title":"Third-party advisory: www.openwall.com","kind":"advisory","source":"nvd","publisher":"research","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"advisory","confidence":null,"note":"Third-party advisory: www.openwall.com"}],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}