# CVE-2026-68969: Apache Airflow: Bulk Variable and Connection endpoints record secret values in the audit log in cleartext

Status: published. Published: 2026-08-12. Updated: 2026-11-03.

Apache Airflow wrote Variable values and Connection `extra` contents to the audit log in cleartext when they were submitted through the bulk endpoints (`PATCH /api/v2/variables` and `PATCH /api/v2/connections`). The audit-log masking recognised only top-level request fields, and a bulk request nests its entities two levels below, so no masking was applied to them. Any authenticated user with audit-log read access -- who need not hold Variables or Connections read at all -- could recover those secrets verbatim, and the Connection `extra` copy is stored unencrypted in the log while the connection table encrypts it. The Airflow UI's *Import Variables* action posts to this endpoint, so an ordinary operator import wrote every secret in the file to the log. This is a different code path from CVE-2026-50204: that fix shipped in 3.3.0 and covers the single-entity endpoints only, so deployments that upgraded in response to that advisory remain affected and must upgrade again. Users are advised to upgrade to apache-airflow 3.3.1 or later.

## Remediation

- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: CNA: apache) — https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/70890

## Affected products and versions

- Apache Software Foundation / Apache Airflow (apache-airflow): ≥ 0; < 3.0.0 (affected, semver). Source: CNA: apache
- Apache Software Foundation / Apache Airflow (apache-airflow-core): ≥ 3.0.0; < 3.3.1 (affected, semver). Source: CNA: apache

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 6.5 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N; source: ADP: CISA-ADP

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.36% as of 2026-11-02; percentile 29.56%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-532

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/70890 (CNA: apache; patch)

- https://lists.apache.org/thread/p3jr90jgp2brto4vwcrx680f3x11y70c (CNA: apache; vendor-advisory)

- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-50204 (CNA: apache; related)

## Provenance

- CNA: apache: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-68969; retrieved 2026-11-03; source updated 2026-11-03

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-68969; retrieved 2026-11-03; source updated Not reported

Revision: 697199da558cd0e5e5963ac6c91027714f3c63417c7fba77192e98ce747724c9

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-68969

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