CVE-2026-41084: Apache Airflow: API authorization bypass: bulk TaskInstances allows cross-DAG mutation

Synopsis

An authorization bypass in Apache Airflow's bulk Task Instances API allows an authenticated user with edit permission on one DAG to modify Task Instance state in any other DAG. The vulnerability is reachable over the network without elevated credentials and requires no victim interaction. Successful exploitation lets an attacker mutate or delete Task Instance records belonging to DAGs they have no permission to touch, breaking workflow isolation between teams. A patched-image rebuild at version 3.2.2 is available on HarborGuard for environments running an affected version.

HarborGuard Coverage

Exploit Conditions

• Network reachabilityRequired

  The vulnerable API endpoint is exposed over the network; an attacker must be able to reach the Airflow API service via HTTP/S to exploit this flaw.

• AuthenticationRequired

  The attacker must hold a valid account with at least edit permission on one DAG; no elevated or admin credentials are needed beyond that low-privilege foothold.

• Victim interactionNot required

  The exploit is carried out entirely through crafted API requests; no action from another user or administrator is needed.

• Attack complexityDetail

  The exploit is reliable and condition-free: the attacker simply places the authorized DAG ID in the URL path and the target DAG IDs in the request body, with no race conditions or environmental factors to overcome.

Blast Radius

• The attacker patches or deletes Task Instance state records in DAGs they have no permission to edit, bypassing per-DAG access isolation.
• Scheduled or running workflow tasks in the target DAG can be forcibly marked as succeeded, failed, or skipped, corrupting pipeline execution history.
• Teams relying on DAG-scoped permissions to separate workloads lose that isolation guarantee, exposing cross-team data pipelines to unauthorized modification.