CVE-2026-54526
CVE-2026-54526 — Argo Workflows: Incomplete fix for CVE-2026-31892: ArtifactGC.PodSpecPatch bypass of Strict/Secure templateReferencing
Argo Workflows is an open source container-native workflow engine for orchestrating parallel jobs on Kubernetes. Prior to 3.7.15 and 4.0.6, the allow-list fix for CVE-2026-31892 is incomplete because workflow/util/merge.go ValidateUserOverrides and SanitizeUserWorkflowSpec walk only the top-level fields of WorkflowSpec via reflection, and WorkflowSpec.ArtifactGC is allow-listed wholesale; the struct behind that field, WorkflowLevelArtifactGC, has a PodSpecPatch sub-field whose contents flow unmodified into util.ApplyPodSpecPatch on the artifact-GC pod, the same sink the original fix closed for WorkflowSpec.PodSpecPatch, so a user submitting a Workflow under templateReferencing: Strict or Secure (against a referenced WorkflowTemplate that declares an output artifact and setting spec.artifactGC.strategy: OnWorkflowCompletion) can still inject an arbitrary strategic merge patch into the…
Published Updated Sources: cvelistV5, GitHub_M
Triage
Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.
Exploitation
Unreported
no source claims exploitation
EPSS
0%
chance of exploitation in 30 days
CVSS base
8.9
HIGH
CISA SSVC assessment
Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.
Exploitation
PoC
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Total
partial · total control of the vulnerable component
Affected scope
The catalog records vendors and products as separate lists, not pairs, so which product belongs to which vendor is not something this page can say.
Vendors (1)
Products (1)
Every base score collected
Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.
| Score | Version | Severity | Expl. | Impact | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.9 | CVSS 4.0 | HIGH | — | — | cvelistV5 |
Weakness & attack patterns
- CWE-284
Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.
- T1027.009Obfuscated Files or Information: Embedded Payloads
- T1546.004Event Triggered Execution: .bash_profile and .bashrc
- T1546.016Event Triggered Execution: Installer Packages
Detection
Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.
- Search application, proxy, and WAF logs for requests touching /util/merge.go.
References
5 on the record
- github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/security/advisories/GHSA-48p8-g2fx-3wwm
x_refsource_CONFIRM
- github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/commit/277e9cef0ad16d7eaaab253573d0695951a65dbd
x_refsource_MISC
- github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/commit/358cc3968c8f06f1be0967e41df191088db0b662
x_refsource_MISC
- github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/releases/tag/v3.7.15
x_refsource_MISC
- github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/releases/tag/v4.0.6
x_refsource_MISC
Elsewhere on this site
Not in any source we poll
Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.
- No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
- No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
- No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.