CVE-2026-48828: Apache Airflow: Bulk JSON Variables bypass should_hide_value_for_key - redact() called without the key

[Rahul Vats <rahulvats () apache org>]

Severity: moderate 

Affected versions:

- Apache Airflow (apache-airflow) before 3.3.0

Description:

The Bulk Variables API in Apache Airflow called the redactor without passing the variable's key, so the key-based 
`should_hide_value_for_key` check (which triggers on secret-suffixed key names like `*_password` / `*_token` / 
`*_secret`) could not fire for JSON-decodable variable values. An authenticated UI/API user with bulk Variable read 
permission could retrieve plaintext values from JSON variables whose key would otherwise trigger redaction. Affects 
deployments that store sensitive values in JSON-typed Airflow Variables under secret-suffixed key names. Users are 
advised to upgrade to `apache-airflow` 3.3.0 or later (the fix landed on `main` after 3.2.2; no 3.2.x backport).

Credit:

Omkhar Arasaratnam (@omkhar) (finder)
Shubham Raj (@shubhamraj-git) (remediation developer)

References:

https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/67495
https://airflow.apache.org/
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-48828