CVE-2026-81914: Apache Airflow Google provider: Google Drive query injection via unescaped file and folder names

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2026-09-29 · updated 2026-10-07
Weakness: CWE-943

Description

Apache Airflow's Google provider built Google Drive search expressions by interpolating file and folder names directly into single-quoted string literals, without escaping the quote character that delimits them. A name containing an apostrophe therefore terminated the literal early and appended clauses of the attacker's choosing to the query. The names are frequently not written by the Dag author. In a wildcard `gcs_to_gdrive` transfer they come from the source bucket listing, so anyone able to create objects in that bucket controls them — typically an external data producer or an ingest-only service account, a different trust principal from the Dag author. An injected clause can broaden the match and so steer which file or folder the hook resolves: an upload can be directed into a folder the attacker named, and, because downloads select the most recently modified match, a download can return a file they placed rather than the one the Dag asked for. Affects deployments passing externally-sourced names to the Google Drive hook, including wildcard `gcs_to_gdrive` transfers from buckets writable by less-trusted principals. Users are advised to upgrade to `apache-airflow-providers-google` `22.6.0` or later, which escapes quote and backslash characters in every value interpolated into a Drive query.

Affected products

Apache Software Foundation Apache Airflow Google provider: before 22.6.0 — fixed in 22.6.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Apache Software Foundation Apache Airflow Google provider 22.6.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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