What is CVE-2020-11978?

CVE-2020-11978 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apache Airflow, classified under OS Command Injection. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2020-07-17.

How severe is CVE-2020-11978?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2020-11978 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-11978 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-01-18), indicating it is being actively exploited. 29 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

RCE in Apache Airflow

CVE-2020-11978

An issue was found in Apache Airflow versions 1.10.10 and below. A remote code/command injection vulnerability was discovered in one of the example DAGs shipped with Airflow which would allow any authenticated user to run arbitrary commands as the user running airflow worker/scheduler (depending on the executor in use). If you already have examples disabled by setting load_examples=False in the config then you are not vulnerable.

Vulnerability class: Command Injection (OS Command Injection)

Published 2020-07-17 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.992 (99.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-16.

Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 99.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.992 · newest: 0.992 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Apache Airflow
Apache Software Foundation Airflow — versions 1.10.10 and below

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-78 — OS Command Injection

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2022-01-18. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2022-07-18.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

lists.apache.org/thread.html/r7255cf0be3566f23a768e2a04b40fb09e52fcd1872695428b… (Mailing List, Vendor Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/162908/Apache-Airflow-1.10.10-Remote-Code-Executi… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/174764/Apache-Airflow-1.10.10-Remote-Code-Executi… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-11978?: CVE-2020-11978 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apache Airflow, classified under OS Command Injection. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2020-07-17.
How severe is CVE-2020-11978?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-11978 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2020-11978 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-01-18), indicating it is being actively exploited. 29 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.