Argo Cd
CVE-2023-22736
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization checks on every request
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 8.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, high complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could access resources or perform actions without proper authorization checks by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Implement role-based access control, validate authorization on every request server-side, apply principle of least privilege.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in go
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Missing Authorization (CWE-862), which allows attackers to access resources or perform actions without proper authorization checks. Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Versions starting with 2.5.0-rc1 and above, prior to 2.5.8, and version 2.6.0-rc4, are vulnerable to an authorization bypass bug which allows a malicious Argo CD user to deploy Applications outside the configured allowed namespaces. Reconciled Application namespaces are specified as a comma-delimited list of glob patterns. When sharding is enabled on the Application controller, it does not enforce that list of patterns when reconciling Applications. For example, if Application namespaces are configured to be argocd-*, the Application controller may reconcile an Application installed in a namespace called other, even though it does not start with argocd-. Reconciliation of the out-of-bounds Application is only triggered when the Application is updated, so the attacker must be able to cause an update operation on the Application resource. This bug only applies to users who have explicitly enabled the "apps-in-any-namespace" feature by setting application.namespaces in the argocd-cmd-params-cm ConfigMap or otherwise setting the --application-namespaces flags on the Application controller and API server components. The apps-in-any-namespace feature is in beta as of this Security Advisory's publish date. The bug is also limited to Argo CD instances where sharding is enabled by increasing the replicas count for the Application controller. Finally, the AppProjects' sourceNamespaces field acts as a secondary check against this exploit. To cause reconciliation of an Application in an out-of-bounds namespace, an AppProject must be available which permits Applications in the out-of-bounds namespace. A patch for this vulnerability has been released in versions 2.5.8 and 2.6.0-rc5. As a workaround, running only one replica of the Application controller will prevent exploitation of this bug. Making sure all AppProjects' sourceNamespaces are restricted within the confines of the configured Application namespaces will also prevent exploitation of this bug. Affected products include: Argoproj Argo Cd. Version information: prior to 2.5.8.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Versions starting with 2.5.0-rc1 and above, prior to 2.5.8, and version 2.6.0-rc4, are vulnerable to an authorization bypass bug which allows a malicious Argo CD user to deploy Applications outside the configured allowed namespaces. Reconciled Application namespaces are specified as a comma-delimited list of glob patterns. When sharding is enabled on the Application controller, it does not enforce that list of patterns when reconciling Applications. For example, if Application namespaces are configured to be argocd-*, the Application controller may reconcile an Application installed in a namespace called other, even though it does not start with argocd-. Reconciliation of the out-of-bounds Application is only triggered when the Application is updated, so the attacker must be able to cause an update operation on the Application resource. This bug only applies to users who have explicitly enabled the "apps-in-any-namespace" feature by setting application.namespaces in the argocd-cmd-params-cm ConfigMap or otherwise setting the --application-namespaces flags on the Application controller and API server components. The apps-in-any-namespace feature is in beta as of this Security Advisory's publish date. The bug is also limited to Argo CD instances where sharding is enabled by increasing the replicas count for the Application controller. Finally, the AppProjects' sourceNamespaces field acts as a secondary check against this exploit. To cause reconciliation of an Application in an out-of-bounds namespace, an AppProject must be available which permits Applications in the out-of-bounds namespace. A patch for this vulnerability has been released in versions 2.5.8 and 2.6.0-rc5. As a workaround, running only one replica of the Application controller will prevent exploitation of this bug. Making sure all AppProjects' sourceNamespaces are restricted within the confines of the configured Application namespaces will also prevent exploitation of this bug.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Versions 1.2.0 through 1.8.7, 2.0.0-rc1 throug
Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Versions 1.2.0 through 1.8.7, 2.0.0-rc1 throug
Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. For versions 2.9.0-rc1 through 2.14.19, 3.0.0-
Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerabi
Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerabi
NVD
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