How severe is CVE-2023-22736?

CVE-2023-22736 has a CVSS score of 8.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-22736?

CVE-2023-22736 affects the following packages: github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 (Go), github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2023-22736?

Update github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 to 2.5.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-22736 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-22736 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-22736 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Stop feeding it untrusted input: reject or quarantine files and payloads from unverified sources until you can upgrade, restrict accepted formats to the ones you actually need, and run the parsing or decoding step in a least-privileged sandbox or short-lived worker so a crash or corrupted read cannot reach the rest of the process.

Is CVE-2023-22736 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-22736 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-22736?

CVE-2023-22736 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.8%, placing it in the 57th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-22736?

CVE-2023-22736 is classified as CWE-862 (CWE-862). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-22736 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-22736 was published on January 26, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2023-22736 — argo-cd

HIGH

CVE-2023-22736 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.5) CWE-862 vulnerability in github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2. A fix is available for github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 — see the affected versions and patch details below.

argo-cd Controller reconciles apps outside configured namespaces when sharding is enabled

Also known asGHSA-6p4m-hw2h-6gmwGO-2023-1512

Published

Jan 26, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 8, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-22736.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk+0.02%

Lower risk than most CVEs57th percentile — riskier than 57% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

2 pkgs affected

🐹github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2🐹github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Impact

All Argo CD versions starting with 2.5.0-rc1 are vulnerable to an authorization bypass bug which allows a malicious Argo CD user to deploy Applications outside the configured allowed namespaces.

Description of exploit

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.

Limitations

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.

Patches

A patch for this vulnerability has been released in the following Argo CD versions:

v2.5.8
v2.6.0-rc5

Workarounds

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.

Credits

Thanks to ChangZhuo Chen (@czchen) for finding the issue and for contributing the fix!

References

Documentation for apps-in-any-namespace

For more information

Open an issue in the Argo CD issue tracker or discussions
Join us on Slack in channel #argo-cd

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2`	≥ 2.5.0-rc1&&< 2.5.8	2.5.8`go get github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2@v2.5.8`
🐹Go	`github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2`	≥ 2.6.0-rc4&&< 2.6.0-rc5	2.6.0-rc5`go get github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2@v2.6.0-rc5`

Affected Products

1 product · 5 configurations

Application

argo cdargoproj

≥ 2.5.0 && < 2.5.8

1 version

2.6.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 to 2.5.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-22736 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop feeding it untrusted input: reject or quarantine files and payloads from unverified sources until you can upgrade, restrict accepted formats to the ones you actually need, and run the parsing or decoding step in a least-privileged sandbox or short-lived worker so a crash or corrupted read cannot reach the rest of the process.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatImportant

This issue only affects Red Hat GitOps version 1.7, as the vulnerability was introduced in ArgoCD-2.5. This vulnerability affects only deployments with "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…

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat OpenShift GitOps 1.7	`openshift-gitops-1/argocd-rhel8:v1.7.1-2`	RHSA-2023:0467

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact All Argo CD versions starting with 2.5.0-rc1 are vulnerable to an authorization bypass bug which allows a malicious Argo CD user to deploy Applications outside the configured allowed namespaces. #### Description of exploit 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