GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) OS Command Injection vulnerability in apache-airflow. A fix is available for apache-airflow — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OS Command Injection in Apache Airflow
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 376,715 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
apache-airflowReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') vulnerability in Apache Airflow Spark Provider, Apache Airflow allows an attacker to read arbtrary files in the task execution context, without write access to DAG files. This issue affects Spark Provider versions prior to 4.0.0. It also impacts any Apache Airflow versions prior to 2.3.0 in case Spark Provider is installed (Spark Provider 4.0.0 can only be installed for Airflow 2.3.0+). Note that you need to manually install the Spark Provider version 4.0.0 in order to get rid of the vulnerability on top of Airflow 2.3.0+ version that has lower version of the Spark Provider installed).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | apache-airflow | all versions | 2.3.0pip install --upgrade 'apache-airflow==2.3.0' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for apache-airflow, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update apache-airflow to 2.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-45r6-j3cc-6mxx across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.