CVE-2026-82355

Apache Airflow: Session cookie silently overrides explicit Authorization bearer header, enabling session fixation

MEDIUM
4.2
CVSS Score
Published: September 21, 2026 at 02:32 PM UTC
Updated: September 25, 2026 at 07:57 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorAirflow

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Severity
MEDIUM4.2
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.7%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

When a request to the Airflow core API carries both a session cookie and an explicit `Authorization: Bearer` token, Airflow resolves the caller from the cookie and ignores the bearer token, inverting the intended precedence of bearer over cookie. The request then executes -- and is recorded in the audit log -- as the cookie's principal rather than the identity the client explicitly presented. Only Apache Airflow 3.3.0 and 3.3.1 are affected. Earlier releases do not contain the code path that caches the cookie-derived user, and are not vulnerable. Exploiting this requires an attacker to first place a valid session cookie of their own into the victim's browser or client: for example by cookie tossing from a sibling subdomain, through cross-site scripting in a separate application sharing a parent domain, or via a shared workstation. Deployments that host the Airflow UI on a domain shared with other applications are therefore the most exposed; a deployment on a dedicated domain with no co-hosted applications is not reachable this way. The consequence is principal confusion and misattributed audit records rather than a direct privilege escalation. Users of 3.3.0 or 3.3.1 should upgrade to Apache Airflow 3.3.2 or later, which resolves the caller from the explicitly supplied credential whenever one is present.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

3.3.0 ≤ v < 3.3.23.3.03.3.1
Affected range stops below 3.3.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (4)

PatchIssue Tracking
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/72225
PatchIssue Tracking
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/72723
Vendor AdvisoryMailing List
Source: cverecord
https://lists.apache.org/thread/3p7zpdvv40tn01m0xk5mt2rxg88mw8w1
Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/21/4

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

4.2MEDIUMCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-384

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