GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-129 vulnerability in github.com/tektoncd/pipeline. A fix is available for github.com/tektoncd/pipeline — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Tekton Pipelines controller panic via long resolver name in TaskRun/PipelineRun
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 GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj.
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
GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj 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 377,636 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/tektoncd/pipeline🐹github.com/tektoncd/pipeline🐹github.com/tektoncd/pipeline🐹github.com/tektoncd/pipeline🐹github.com/tektoncd/pipelineReal-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
Summary
A user with permission to create or update a TaskRun or PipelineRun can crash the Tekton Pipelines controller by setting .spec.taskRef.resolver (or .spec.pipelineRef.resolver) to a string of 31 characters or more, causing a denial of service for all reconciliation.
Details
The controller panics in GenerateDeterministicNameFromSpec when building a deterministic ResolutionRequest name. The generated name has the format {resolver}-{hash} and, when the resolver name is long enough, the result exceeds the DNS-1123 label limit of 63 characters.
The truncation logic attempts to find a word boundary using strings.LastIndex(name, " "). Since the generated name never contains spaces (it is composed of the resolver name, a dash, and a hex-encoded hash), LastIndex returns -1, which is then used as a slice bound:
return name[:strings.LastIndex(name[:maxLength], " ")], nil
// strings.LastIndex returns -1 → panic: slice bounds out of range [:-1]
The panic crashes the controller. Because the offending TaskRun or PipelineRun is re-reconciled on restart, the controller enters a CrashLoopBackOff, blocking all TaskRun and PipelineRun reconciliation cluster-wide until the offending resource is manually deleted.
Built-in resolvers use short names (git, cluster, bundles, hub) and are not affected under normal usage. The vulnerability is exploitable by any user who can create TaskRuns or PipelineRuns with a custom resolver name.
Impact
Denial of service — A single malicious TaskRun or PipelineRun with a long resolver name is sufficient to crash the Tekton Pipelines controller into a restart loop, blocking all CI/CD reconciliation cluster-wide until the resource is removed.
Patches
Fixed in versions 1.0.1, 1.3.3, 1.6.1, 1.9.2, 1.10.2.
The fix computes the hash first, then truncates only the prefix (resolver name) to fit within the DNS-1123 label limit, preserving the full hash to maintain determinism and uniqueness of ResolutionRequest names.
Workarounds
Restrict who can create TaskRun and PipelineRun resources via Kubernetes RBAC. There is no validation-side workaround without patching.
Affected Versions
All releases from v0.60.0 through v1.10.0.
The vulnerable truncation logic was introduced in commit ea1fa7ad1fdc ("Remote Resolution Refactor"), first released in v0.60.0 (2024-05-22).
Currently supported affected releases:
- v1.10.x (latest)
- v1.9.x (LTS, EOL 2027-01-30)
- v1.6.x (LTS, EOL 2026-10-31)
- v1.3.x (LTS, EOL 2026-08-04)
- v1.0.x (LTS, EOL 2026-04-29)
Releases prior to v0.60.0 are not affected — the truncation code did not exist.
Acknowledgments
This vulnerability was reported by Oleh Konko (@1seal), who provided a thorough vulnerability analysis, proof-of-concept, and review of the fix. Thank you!
References
- Fix (main): 5eead3f859b9
- Fix (v1.10.x): 01673237c464
- Fix (v1.9.x): edc64bbf2232
- Fix (v1.6.x): 0fa2d66cff81
- Fix (v1.3.x): 5e4905fb6754
- Fix (v1.0.x): ebc197e2b973
- Introduced in:
ea1fa7ad1fdc("Remote Resolution Refactor")
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/tektoncd/pipeline | ≥ 0.60.0&&< 1.0.1 | 1.0.1go get github.com/tektoncd/pipeline@v1.0.1 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/tektoncd/pipeline | ≥ 1.1.0&&< 1.3.3 | 1.3.3go get github.com/tektoncd/pipeline@v1.3.3 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/tektoncd/pipeline | ≥ 1.4.0&&< 1.6.1 | 1.6.1go get github.com/tektoncd/pipeline@v1.6.1 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/tektoncd/pipeline | ≥ 1.7.0&&< 1.9.2 | 1.9.2go get github.com/tektoncd/pipeline@v1.9.2 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/tektoncd/pipeline | ≥ 1.10.0&&< 1.10.2 | 1.10.2go get github.com/tektoncd/pipeline@v1.10.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/tektoncd/pipeline, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/tektoncd/pipeline to 1.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj 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 GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj. 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 Pipelines 1.2 | openshift-pipelines/pipelines-controller-rhel9:1775707731 | RHSA-2026:10026 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines 1.2 | openshift-pipelines/pipelines-operator-bundle:1776925111 | RHSA-2026:10066 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines 1.21 | openshift-pipelines/pipelines-controller-rhel9:1774556221 | RHSA-2026:6166 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines 1.21 | openshift-pipelines/pipelines-operator-bundle:1774871390 | RHSA-2026:6170 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.