CVE-2023-40584 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption 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.
Denial of Service to Argo CD repo-server
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-2023-40584.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-40584 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2🐹github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2🐹github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2Real-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
Argo CD is a declarative continuous deployment for Kubernetes. 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. A patch for this vulnerability has been released in versions 2.6.15, 2.7.14, and 2.8.3. Users are advised to upgrade. The only way to completely resolve the issue is to upgrade, however users unable to upgrade should 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.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 | ≥ 2.4.0&&< 2.6.15 | 2.6.15go get github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2@v2.6.15 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 | ≥ 2.7.0&&< 2.7.14 | 2.7.14go get github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2@v2.7.14 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 | ≥ 2.8.0&&< 2.8.3 | 2.8.3go get github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2@v2.8.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
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 2.6.15 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-40584 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-40584 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-40584. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift GitOps 1.8 | openshift-gitops-1/argocd-rhel8:v1.8.5-1 | RHSA-2023:5030 |
| Red Hat OpenShift GitOps 1.9 | openshift-gitops-1/argocd-rhel8:v1.9.2-2 | RHSA-2023:5029 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-40584 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-40584 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.