Overview
CVE-2025-50213 refers to a critical vulnerability identified in Apache Airflow Providers Snowflake, particularly in versions before 6.4.0. This vulnerability, categorized as a “Failure to Sanitize Special Elements into a Different Plane,” has the potential to significantly compromise systems and lead to data leakage. Being a part of the large-scale data processing platform, Apache Airflow, this vulnerability could affect numerous organizations and applications that rely on its services, hence the urgency and importance to address it.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-50213
Severity: Critical (9.8/10)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage
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Product | Affected Versions
Apache Airflow Providers Snowflake | Before 6.4.0
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability resides in the sanitation process of table and stage parameters within the CopyFromExternalStageToSnowflakeOperator. Failing to sanitize these special elements may allow malicious users to craft SQL injection attacks, leading to unauthorized access or alteration of data, or even system compromise.
Conceptual Example Code
In a hypothetical exploitation scenario, an attacker could inject malicious SQL code in the table or stage parameters. The following pseudocode gives a conceptual example:
SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name = 'value'; DROP TABLE table_name; --'In the above example, the unfiltered input in the WHERE clause allows for the insertion of a SQL statement (`DROP TABLE table_name`) that can lead to destructive outcomes.
Impact of the Vulnerability
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary SQL commands on the affected system, potentially leading to unauthorized access, data leakage, or even a system compromise. Given the CVSS score of 9.8, the severity of this vulnerability is considered critical.
Workarounds and Mitigation
The primary mitigation method is to upgrade the Apache Airflow Providers Snowflake to version 6.4.0 or higher, where the vulnerability has been fixed. As a temporary measure, users can also employ web application firewalls (WAF) or intrusion detection systems (IDS) to monitor and block malicious activities. However, these are not long-term solutions and do not address the core vulnerability. It is, therefore, crucial to apply the vendor patch as soon as feasible.