AirflowApplication · Apache
CVE-2020-11982
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was found in Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below. When using CeleryExecutor, if an attack can connect to the broker (Redis, RabbitMQ) directly, it was possible to insert a malicious payload directly to the broker which could lead to a deserialization attack (and thus remote code execution) on the Worker.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceIn Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below using CeleryExecutor, an attacker with direct network access to the message broker (Redis or RabbitMQ) can inject a malicious serialized payload into the broker queue. When Airflow workers deserialize and process this payload, it triggers arbitrary code execution on the worker nodes.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
AirflowApplication
<= 1.10.10CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Airflow versionRun 'airflow version' or check the installed package version (e.g., pip show apache-airflow)Affected if The installed version is 1.10.10 or lower
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Confirm CeleryExecutor is in useCheck the airflow.cfg file for 'executor = CeleryExecutor' or inspect the AIRFLOW__CORE__EXECUTOR environment variableAffected if CeleryExecutor is configured as the executor
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Identify the Celery message brokerCheck airflow.cfg for 'broker_url' or inspect AIRFLOW__CELERY__BROKER_URL env variable - look for Redis (redis://) or RabbitMQ (amqp://) URLsAffected if Redis or RabbitMQ is used as the Celery broker
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Assess broker network exposureReview broker configuration and network ACLs to determine if the Redis or RabbitMQ port (default 6379 for Redis, 5672 for RabbitMQ) is accessible from untrusted networksAffected if The broker accepts connections from hosts other than the Airflow webserver and workers without authentication or network isolation
User is affected if running Airflow 1.10.10 or below with CeleryExecutor and the Celery broker (Redis or RabbitMQ) permits unauthorized or unauthenticated connections from the network.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade Airflow to a patched version (1.10.11+) and enforce authentication/network isolation on the Celery broker to prevent unauthorized direct connections.
Airflow 1.10.11
- Upgrade Apache Airflow to version 1.10.11 or later, which contains the security fix for this vulnerability
- Ensure that the Celery broker (Redis or RabbitMQ) is not directly exposed to untrusted network segments
- Implement network segmentation and access controls to limit broker access to only authorized Airflow components
- Consider enabling Celery task serialization using JSON instead of pickle for additional defense in depth
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Airflow
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11982 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-11982 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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