GHSA-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-770 vulnerability in github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3. A fix is available for github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Argo Vulnerable to Unauthenticated Memory Exhaustion (DoS) in Webhook Interceptor
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq.
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-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq 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 379,145 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-workflows/v3🐹github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v4Real-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
Severity: Medium
Component: Webhook Interceptor (server/auth/webhook)
Vulnerability Type: Denial of Service (DoS)
Description
The Webhook Interceptor loads the entire request body into memory before authenticating the request or verifying its signature. This occurs on the /api/v1/events/ endpoint, which is publicly accessible (albeit intended for webhooks). An attacker can send a request with an extremely large body (e.g., multiple gigabytes), causing the Argo Server to allocate excessive memory, potentially leading to an Out-Of-Memory (OOM) crash and denial of service.
Vulnerable Code
In server/auth/webhook/interceptor.go:
func (i *WebhookInterceptor) addWebhookAuthorization(r *http.Request, kube kubernetes.Interface) error {
// ... basic checks ...
// Vulnerability: Reads entire body into memory unconditionally
buf, _ := io.ReadAll(r.Body)
defer func() { r.Body = io.NopCloser(bytes.NewBuffer(buf)) }()
// ... subsequent logic finds correct service account and secret ...
// ... verification happens later ...
}
The io.ReadAll call happens before the signature verification loop.
Impact
- Service Availability: An attacker can crash the Argo Server, disrupting workflow execution and API access for all users.
PoC (Conceptual)
- Target the webhook endpoint:
POST /api/v1/events/some-namespace - Send a
Content-Length: 1000000000(1GB) header. - Stream 1GB of random data.
- Monitor server memory usage. It will spike until 1GB is allocated or the process crashes.
Recommendation
- Limit Body Size: Enforce a strict limit on webhook body size (e.g., 10MB) using
http.MaxBytesReader. - Streaming Verification: If possible, verify the signature in a streaming fashion or use a temporary file for large payloads (though typically webhooks are small).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3 | all versions | 3.7.14go get github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3@v3.7.14 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v4 | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.0.5 | 4.0.5go get github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v4@v4.0.5 |
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-workflows/v3, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3 to 3.7.14 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq 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-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq. 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.
Red Hat OpenShift AI ships Argo Workflows in Data Science Pipelines container images (odh-data-science-pipelines-argo-workflowcontroller-rhel9 and odh-data-science-pipelines-argo-argoexec-rhel9) on affected streams. These images bundle a vulnerable Argo Workflows version prior to upstream fix 3.7.14. The webhook…
Upgrade Argo Workflows to version 3.7.14 or later (3.x line) or 4.0.5 or later (4.x line) in affected Red Hat OpenShift AI releases. Red Hat OpenShift AI engineering is expected to deliver updated Data Science Pipelines builds for affected streams (rhoai-2.25, rhoai-3.3, rhoai-3.4). Until updated images are available, restrict network access to the Argo Server webhook endpoint (/api/v1/events/) using Ingress rules, firewall policies, or Kubernetes NetworkPolicy so only trusted webhook sources can reach it. Configure request body size limits at the Ingress or load balancer layer (for example, a maximum body size well below multi-gigabyte payloads) to reduce the risk of memory exhaustion from…Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-jcc8-g2q4-9fxq across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.