GHSA-g687-f2gx-6wm8 BIT-argo-cd-2023-40584 CVE-2023-40584 GO-2023-2050
Argo CD repo-server Denial of Service vulnerability
- Severity
- 6.5 / 10
- Medium · CVSS 3.1
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- 1.42%
- Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 72.82% of scored vulnerabilities.
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
- Fix
2.6.15- Upgrade github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 to this version or later
Description
Impact
All versions of ArgoCD starting from v2.4 have a bug where the ArgoCD repo-server component is vulnerable to a Denial-of-Service attack vector. Specifically, the said component extracts a user-controlled tar.gz file without validating the size of its inner files. As a result, a malicious, low-privileged user can send a malicious tar.gz file that exploits this vulnerability to the repo-server, thereby harming the system's functionality and availability. Additionally, the repo-server is susceptible to another vulnerability due to the fact that it does not check the extracted file permissions before attempting to delete them. Consequently, an attacker can craft a malicious tar.gz archive in a way that prevents the deletion of its inner files when the manifest generation process is completed.
Patches
A patch for this vulnerability has been released in the following Argo CD versions:
- v2.6.15
- v2.7.14
- v2.8.3
Workarounds
The only way to completely resolve the issue is to upgrade.
Mitigations
Configure RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) and provide access for configuring applications only to a limited number of administrators. These administrators should utilize trusted and verified Helm charts.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in the Argo CD issue tracker or discussions
- Join us on Slack in channel #argo-cd
Credits
This vulnerability was found & reported by GE Vernova – Amit Laish.
The Argo team would like to thank these contributors for their responsible disclosure and constructive communications during the resolve of this issue
Affected versions
Go
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| github.com/argoproj/argo-cd | all versions |
No fix yet |
| github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 | >= 2.4.0, < 2.6.15 |
2.6.15 |
| github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 | >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.14 |
2.7.14 |
| github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 | >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.3 |
2.8.3 |
| github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 | >= 2.4.0, < 2.6.15>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.14>= 2.8.0, < 2.8.3 |
2.6.152.7.142.8.3 |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 Go → 2.6.15
- go
go get github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2@v2.6.15 && go mod tidy
Severity breakdown
CVSS 3.1 6.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Weakness
CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
How to prevent it
- Architecture and Design: Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended. A strong authentication and access control model will help prevent such attacks from occurring in the first place. The login application should be protected against DoS attacks as much as possible. Limiting the database access, perhaps by caching result sets, can help minimize the resources expended. To further limit the potential for a DoS attack, consider tracking the rate of requests received from users and blocking requests that exceed a defined rate threshold.
- Architecture and Design: Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either: recognizes the attack and denies that user further access for a given amount of time, or uniformly throttles all requests in order to make it more difficult to consume resources more quickly than they can again be freed. The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question. The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute -- and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.
- Architecture and Design: Ensure that protocols have specific limits of scale placed on them.
- Implementation: Ensure that all failures in resource allocation place the system into a safe posture.
References
Advisories
Packages
Other links
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/security/advisories/GHSA-g687-f2gx-6wm8
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/commit/1391ba72149655e4884d357586d3201f15bc92dc
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/commit/b8f92c4ff226346624f43de3f25d81dac6386674
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/tag/v2.6.15
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/tag/v2.7.14
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/tag/v2.8.3
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
- Latest EPSS score
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| GHSA-fmxq-cgp8-87wp Argo CD: AppProject destination-namespace and resource restrictions bypassed by PreDelete/PostDelete resource hooks | Critical | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
| GHSA-j6cw-g6p4-7hch Argo CD repo-server command injection via crafted SSH repository SOCKS5 proxy URL | High | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
| GHSA-h98r-wv3h-fr38 Argo CD: Stored XSS in application link annotations enables developer-to-admin privilege escalation | High | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
| GO-2026-5618 Argo CD: Kubernetes Secret Extraction via ArgoCD ServerSideDiff via sensitive annotations | Medium | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
| GO-2026-5099 ArgoCD ServerSideDiff is vulnerable to Kubernetes Secret Extraction | Critical | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
| GHSA-gpx4-37g2-c8pv Argo CD Unauthenticated Remote DoS via malformed Azure DevOps git.push webhook | High | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
| GHSA-wp4p-9pxh-cgx2 argo-cd vulnerable unauthenticated DoS via malformed Gogs webhook payload | High | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
| GHSA-f9gq-prrc-hrhc Unauthenticated argocd-server panic via a malicious Bitbucket-Server webhook payload | High | Also affects github.com/argoproj/argo-cd |
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