Critical severity · published Jul 16, 2026
CVE-2026-54526
Argo Workflows: Incomplete fix for CVE-2026-31892: ArtifactGC.PodSpecPatch bypass of Strict/Secure templateReferencing
9.9
CVSS
0.6%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.6% · higher than 46% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AR
argo-workflows · argoproj
< 3.7.15; >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.6 · source: vendor
AW
Argo Workflows · Argoproj
before 3.7.15; 4.0.0 before 4.0.6 · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54526
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-54526
Patch
https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/commit/277e9cef0ad16d7eaaab253573d0695951a65dbd
Patch
https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/commit/358cc3968c8f06f1be0967e41df191088db0b662
Product
https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/releases/tag/v3.7.15
Product
https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/releases/tag/v4.0.6
Exploit
https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/security/advisories/GHSA-48p8-g2fx-3wwm
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