Apache Airflow Variable Masker Recursion Depth Bypass Vulnerable Secret Exposure
CVE-2026-42358 Published on June 1, 2026
Apache Airflow: Variable masker depth-limit bypass returns cleartext nested secrets
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.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-42358 is exploitable with network access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a high impact on confidentiality, with no impact on integrity and availability.
Weakness Type
What is an Information Disclosure Vulnerability?
The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.
CVE-2026-42358 has been classified to as an Information Disclosure vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-42358
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Affected Versions
Apache Software Foundation Apache Airflow:- Before 3.2.2 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.