CVE-2026-54526Argo 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 artifact-GC pod, including hostPath volumes, privileged: true, arbitrary image and command, and hostNetwork: true, defeating the stated purpose of Strict/Secure reference mode. This issue is fixed in versions 3.7.15 and 4.0.6.
Overview
Severity
| Score | Severity | Version | Vector String |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.9 | HIGH | 4.0GitHub_M (CNA) | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H |
| 9.9 | CRITICAL | 3.1NVD | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Details
- CVE ID
- CVE-2026-54526
- Status
- Analyzed
- Assigner (CNA)
- GitHub_M
- Published
- Jul 16, 2026
- Last modified
- 2026-10-24 20:10 UTC
- Weaknesses
- CWE-284 · Improper Access Control
Affected Products
As published by the CNA in the CVE record.
argoprojargo-workflows2 version ranges
- < 3.7.15
- >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.6
References
- github.com https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/commit/277e9cef0ad16d7eaaab253573d0695951a65dbd
- github.com https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/commit/358cc3968c8f06f1be0967e41df191088db0b662
- github.com https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/releases/tag/v3.7.15
- github.com https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/releases/tag/v4.0.6
- github.com https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/security/advisories/GHSA-48p8-g2fx-3wwm