How severe is GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j?

GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j has a CVSS score of 9.8/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j?

GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j affects the following packages: apache-airflow (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j?

Update apache-airflow to version 1.10.11 or later. Run your dependency manager's update command and verify no transitive dependencies pin the vulnerable version. Use O3 Security's SCA scanner to confirm the fix is applied across your entire dependency tree.

Is GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 7 known exploit references for GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB and 6 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j?

GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 94.1%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j (Apache Airflow's Experimental API Authentication Bypass) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-01-18. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-07-18. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j?

GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j is classified as Missing Authentication (CWE-306), CWE-1188 (CWE-1188), CWE-1056 (CWE-1056). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Is there exploit tooling available for GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j?

A Nuclei detection template exists for GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j was published on April 30, 2021 and was last updated on October 22, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2022-01-18 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-07-18

🐍 PyPI

GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j

CRITICAL

Authentication bypass in Apache Airflow

Also known asBIT-airflow-2020-13927CVE-2020-13927PYSEC-2020-18

Published

Apr 30, 2021

Updated

Oct 22, 2025

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

7 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

94.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile0.00%

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.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

🐍apache-airflow

Real-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

The previous default setting for Airflow's Experimental API was to allow all API requests without authentication, but this poses security risks to users who miss this fact. From Airflow 1.10.11 the default has been changed to deny all requests by default and is documented at https://airflow.apache.org/docs/1.10.11/security.html#api-authentication. Note this change fixes it for new installs but existing users need to change their config to default [api]auth_backend = airflow.api.auth.backend.deny_all as mentioned in the Updating Guide: https://github.com/apache/airflow/blob/1.10.11/UPDATING.md#experimental-api-will-deny-all-request-by-default

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`apache-airflow`	all versions	1.10.11

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-49927webappsmultiple

Apache Airflow 1.10.10 - 'Example Dag' Remote Code Execution

by Pepe Berba · Jun 2, 2021

Exploit-DB Source

Frequently Asked Questions

The previous default setting for Airflow's Experimental API was to allow all API requests without authentication, but this poses security risks to users who miss this fact. From Airflow 1.10.11 the default has been changed to deny all requests by default and is documented at https://airflow.apache.org/docs/1.10.11/security.html#api-authentication. Note this change fixes it for new installs but existing users need to change their config to default `[api]auth_backend = airflow.api.auth.backend.deny_all` as mentioned in the Updating Guide: https://github.com/apache/airflow/blob/1.10.11/UPDATING.m

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j in your stack?

O3 detects GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my stack How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

9.8/10

CVSS v3 base score

Vector breakdown

AV:Attack Vector

Network

AC:Attack Complexity

Low

PR:Privileges Required

None

UI:User Interaction

None

S:Scope

Unchanged

C:Confidentiality

High

I:Integrity

High

A:Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H

CWE Classification

CWE-306Missing Authentication CWE-1188CWE-1188 CWE-1056CWE-1056

Weaponization

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

airflow

7.2/10

Maintained10/10

Code-Review10/10

Branch-Protection6/10

Assessed Jun 8, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Apr 30, 2021

First exploit

Jun 2, 2021

KEV added

Jan 18, 2022

Last updated

Oct 22, 2025

Identifiers

GHSA-hhx9-p69v-cx2j

BIT-airflow-2020-13927

PYSEC-2020-18

References

Advisorynvd.nist.gov Advisorygithub.com Webgithub.com Webgithub.com Webgithub.com Webairflow.apache.org Webgithub.com Webgithub.com Weblists.apache.org Webcisa.gov Webpacketstormsecurity.com Webpacketstormsecurity.com Packagegithub.com

Data from OSV.dev, enriched by O3 Security. Refreshed hourly.