Security Overview

Apache Airflow is a powerful platform for orchestrating complex workflows. As with any distributed system, ensuring the security of your Airflow deployment is paramount. This document provides a high-level overview of the security considerations and features available in Airflow.

Key Security Areas

Airflow's security can be broadly categorized into the following areas:

1. Authentication

Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of users or services attempting to access Airflow. Airflow supports various authentication backends, allowing you to integrate with your existing identity management systems.

• Basic Authentication: A simple username and password-based authentication.
• LDAP/Active Directory: Integrate with your corporate directory for centralized user management.
• OAuth/OIDC: Leverage external identity providers like Google, Okta, or Auth0 for single sign-on (SSO).
• Custom Authentication: Implement your own authentication logic if needed.

For more details, refer to the Authentication section.

2. Authorization (Access Control)

Once authenticated, authorization determines what actions a user or service is permitted to perform within Airflow. Airflow's Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system allows fine-grained control over permissions.

• Roles: Predefined or custom roles with specific sets of permissions (e.g., Admin, User, Viewer).
• Permissions: Actions that can be performed on Airflow resources (e.g., DAGs, Connections, Variables).
• Resource-Based Permissions: Granting permissions to specific DAGs, connections, or other resources.

The Access Control section provides in-depth information on configuring RBAC.

3. Secrets Management

Airflow often needs to interact with external systems that require sensitive credentials, such as API keys, database passwords, or cloud service credentials. Securely managing these secrets is critical.

• Airflow integrates with various secrets backends, including:
  • Environment Variables: A basic method for local development.
  • HashiCorp Vault: A popular and robust secrets management solution.
  • AWS Secrets Manager: For AWS-based deployments.
  • GCP Secret Manager: For Google Cloud Platform deployments.
  • Azure Key Vault: For Microsoft Azure deployments.
  • Kubernetes Secrets: For Airflow deployments on Kubernetes.

Explore the Secrets Management section for detailed integration guides.

4. Network Security and TLS/SSL

Securing communication between Airflow components (webserver, scheduler, workers) and between clients and the webserver is essential. Airflow supports configuring TLS/SSL to encrypt network traffic.

• HTTPS for Webserver: Encrypt all traffic to the Airflow UI.
• TLS for Inter-Component Communication: Secure communication between different Airflow services.

Refer to the TLS Configuration section for setup instructions.

5. Data Security

Consider the security of the data processed by your Airflow DAGs. This includes data in transit and data at rest.

• Ensure sensitive data is encrypted when stored.
• Use secure protocols (e.g., HTTPS, SFTP) for data transfer.
• Implement proper access controls on data sources and sinks.

Best Practices

Here are some general best practices for securing your Airflow deployment:

• Principle of Least Privilege: Grant users and services only the permissions they absolutely need.
• Regular Audits: Periodically audit user permissions and access logs.
• Secure Configuration: Follow security guidelines for all Airflow configuration settings.
• Isolate Sensitive Operations: Run DAGs that handle highly sensitive data in isolated environments.
• Monitor Logs: Actively monitor Airflow logs for any suspicious activity.

By understanding and implementing these security measures, you can build a robust and secure Apache Airflow environment.