GHSA-799x-qp47-8qwq: Apache Airflow has no certificate validation on SMTP STARTTLS connections
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.
Details
Original advisory: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-799x-qp47-8qwq
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Low exploitation riskCVE-2026-492670.18% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 8% of all scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-49267 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
More from GitHub Security Advisories
- criticalGHSA-g936-7jqj-mwv8: TSDProxy: Internal proxy auth token forwarded to backend services enables management API …2026-07-10
- highGHSA-fpg8-7664-jc5q: melange: Incomplete package integrity verification allows data section substitution2026-07-10
- mediumGHSA-48rx-c7pg-q66r: Excon does not redact additional sensitive/risky headers when following redirects2026-07-10
- highGHSA-h4g2-xfmw-q2c9: Clauster: Non-loopback deployments can serve the dashboard unauthenticated when auth.enab…2026-07-10
- mediumGHSA-rqq5-2gf9-4w4q: Secure Headers: CSP directive injection via sandbox, plugin_types, and report_to when giv…2026-07-10