Apache Airflow Scheduler RCE via Arbitrary Class Import (pre-3.2.2)
CVE-2026-45360 Published on June 1, 2026

Apache Airflow: Arbitrary import in custom deadline-reference deserialization
Apache Airflow's scheduler-side deadline-reference decoder (`SerializedCustomReference.deserialize_reference`) imported and dispatched arbitrary class paths drawn from DAG-author-controlled serialized state without an allowlist or plugin-registry gate. A DAG author whose code reaches the scheduler the default on single-host deployments where the DAG bundle is importable from the scheduler process could embed a custom `DeadlineReference` whose serialized form named an attacker-controlled module path, causing the scheduler to `import_string(...)` and instantiate that class with a live SQLAlchemy session attached. Affects deployments where DAG-author code is less trusted than the scheduler process. Users are advised to upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later.