CVE-2026-49267
June 2, 2026, 5:16 p.m.
5.9
Medium
Description
Apache Airflow's EmailOperator and the underlying `airflow.utils.email` helpers established SMTP STARTTLS connections without verifying the remote certificate when the deployment used `[email] smtp_starttls=True` without `[email] smtp_ssl`. An attacker positioned between the worker and the configured SMTP server (network MITM — typical hostile-network attack-surface for environments where the SMTP relay sits outside the worker's trust boundary) could present a self-signed certificate, have the worker complete the STARTTLS handshake silently, and capture the SMTP AUTH credentials and message contents the worker forwarded.
This CVE covers the **core apache-airflow side** of the same root cause already covered for the SMTP provider by `CVE-2026-41016` (published 2026-04-27, covering `apache-airflow-providers-smtp`). Users who already applied the SMTP-provider fix from CVE-2026-41016 should additionally upgrade `apache-airflow` to 3.2.2 or later to cover the core-side path through `airflow.utils.email`. Affects deployments configured with `smtp_starttls=True` and `smtp_ssl=False` where the SMTP relay is reachable across a less-trusted network segment than the worker.
Users are advised to upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.2.2 or later.
Product(s) Impacted
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Apache |
|
|
Weaknesses
Common security weaknesses mapped to this vulnerability.
CWE-295
Improper Certificate Validation
The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
*CPE(s)
Affected systems and software identified for this CVE.
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version | Update | Edition | Language | Software Edition | Target Software | Target Hardware | Other Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | apache | apache-airflow | 3.2.2 | / | / | / | / | / | / | / |
| a | apache | apache-airflow | 3.2.2-* | / | / | / | / | / | / |
Tags
CVSS Score
CVSS Data - 3.1
- Attack Vector: NETWORK
- Attack Complexity: HIGH
- Privileges Required: NONE
- Scope: UNCHANGED
- Confidentiality Impact: HIGH
- Integrity Impact: NONE
- Availability Impact: NONE
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Timeline
Published: June 1, 2026, 9:16 a.m.
Last Modified: June 2, 2026, 5:16 p.m.
Last Modified: June 2, 2026, 5:16 p.m.
Status : Undergoing Analysis
CVE has been recently published to the CVE List and has been received by the NVD.
More infoSource
*Disclaimer: Some vulnerabilities do not have an associated CPE. To enhance the data, we use AI to infer CPEs based on CVE details. This is an automated process and might not always be accurate.