CVE-2026-97636: Apache Airflow HashiCorp provider: HashiCorp Vault secrets backend: team-scope guard bypass via user-controlled key
Apache Airflow HashiCorp provider: the HashiCorp Vault secrets backend's team-scope guard can be bypassed with a user-controlled key. In a multi-team deployment, a Dag author scoped to one team can supply a Variable key containing a path separator that causes the backend to resolve a secret belonging to a different team, because after the team-scoped lookup misses the backend falls back to a team-agnostic path concatenated from the unvalidated key. The Execution API Variables route accepts a path-shaped key, so this is reachable from ordinary Dag code.
Affects multi-team deployments using the HashiCorp Vault secrets backend. Single-team deployments are not affected, as there is no cross-team boundary to cross. This is the same class as CVE-2026-86465, CVE-2026-68870, CVE-2026-68871 and CVE-2026-68872 in the Akeyless, Azure Key Vault, Yandex Lockbox and Amazon secrets backends.
Users of apache-airflow-providers-hashicorp are recommended to upgrade to version 4.8.0 or later, which fixes the issue.
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade
apache-airflow-providers-hashicorpto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 4.8.0
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Which deployments are exposed to this issue?
Multi-team Apache Airflow deployments that use the HashiCorp Vault secrets backend are affected. Single-team deployments are not affected because there is no cross-team secret boundary to bypass.
What access does an attacker need to exploit it?
An attacker needs to be able to author or run DAG code in a team-scoped context and supply a Variable key. The Execution API Variables route accepts path-shaped keys, allowing ordinary DAG code to reach the vulnerable lookup behavior.
What could an attacker access?
A DAG author scoped to one team may be able to cause the backend to resolve a secret belonging to another team. This occurs when a key containing a path separator causes the team-scoped lookup to miss and the backend falls back to a team-agnostic path built from the unvalidated key.
What is the recommended remediation?
Upgrade apache-airflow-providers-hashicorp to version 4.8.0 or later, which fixes the issue.