CVE-2022-1025 in Argo
Summary
by MITRE • 07/13/2022
All unpatched versions of Argo CD starting with v1.0.0 are vulnerable to an improper access control bug, allowing a malicious user to potentially escalate their privileges to admin-level.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/23/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-1025 represents a critical access control flaw within Argo CD versions beginning with v1.0.0, affecting all subsequent unpatched releases. This issue stems from inadequate authorization checks that permit malicious actors to exploit the system's permission model and elevate their privileges to administrative levels. The flaw exists in the core authentication and authorization mechanisms of the platform, which is widely utilized for continuous delivery and GitOps operations across enterprise environments.
This vulnerability manifests as an improper access control condition classified under CWE-285, where the system fails to properly enforce authorization checks during privilege escalation attempts. The technical implementation flaw occurs in the RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) subsystem where user permissions are not adequately validated when performing administrative operations. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting specific API requests or leveraging existing user credentials to bypass normal access controls and gain full administrative privileges within the Argo CD environment.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-1025 extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally compromises the security posture of organizations relying on Argo CD for their deployment pipelines. Once an attacker achieves admin-level access, they can modify or delete any application configurations, manipulate deployment workflows, access sensitive environment variables, and potentially cause significant disruption to CI/CD processes. This vulnerability directly maps to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 which covers legitimate credentials and T1484.001 which addresses privilege escalation through improper access control.
Organizations using affected Argo CD versions should immediately implement mitigations including applying the latest security patches, reviewing and tightening RBAC configurations, monitoring for unauthorized access attempts, and conducting comprehensive security assessments of their deployment environments. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper access control implementation in distributed systems and highlights the potential for supply chain attacks when such fundamental security controls are compromised. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring controls specifically targeting administrative API endpoints and privilege escalation attempts within their Argo CD installations.