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.
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.
Advisories
No advisories yet.
Fixes
Solution
No solution given by the vendor.
Workaround
No workaround given by the vendor.
References
History
Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| First Time appeared |
Apache
Apache airflow |
|
| Vendors & Products |
Apache
Apache airflow |
Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:15:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | 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. | |
| Title | Apache Airflow: No certificate validation on SMTP STARTTLS connections | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-295 | |
| References |
|
Projects
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: apache
Published:
Updated: 2026-06-01T07:53:13.259Z
Reserved: 2026-05-28T16:39:15.393Z
Link: CVE-2026-49267
No data.
Status : Received
Published: 2026-06-01T09:16:20.543
Modified: 2026-06-01T09:16:20.543
Link: CVE-2026-49267
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
Updated: 2026-06-01T10:45:26Z
Weaknesses