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Openshift GitopsApplication · Redhat

CVE-2021-3557

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.1.1 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A flaw was found in argocd. Any unprivileged user is able to deploy argocd in their namespace and with the created ServiceAccount argocd-argocd-server, the unprivileged user is able to read all resources of the cluster including all secrets which might enable privilege escalations. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

In Argo CD, any unprivileged user can deploy Argo CD in their own namespace, which creates a ServiceAccount named argocd-argocd-server. This ServiceAccount is granted cluster-wide read permissions, allowing it to access all resources including secrets across the cluster, leading to data confidentiality breach and potential privilege escalation.

MitigationImplement RBAC policies to prevent unprivileged users from deploying Argo CD with elevated ServiceAccount permissions, or configure Argo CD to use a restricted ServiceAccount with namespace-scoped permissions only.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Openshift GitopsApplication
Affected:= 1.1
Argo CdApplication
Affected:< 1.1.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Argo CD version
    Query the Argo CD operator or application version in the cluster. On OpenShift, check the GitOps operator version. For vanilla Argo CD, check the namespace where Argo CD is installed for the deployment or operator version.
    Affected if The installed version is Redhat Openshift Gitops 1.1 or Argoproj Argo CD versions prior to 1.1.1
  2. Find argocd-argocd-server ServiceAccounts
    List all ServiceAccounts named argocd-argocd-server across all namespaces in the cluster using 'kubectl get serviceaccounts argocd-argocd-server --all-namespaces' or the equivalent for your orchestration platform.
    Affected if Any argocd-argocd-argocd-server ServiceAccount exists outside the designated Argo CD system namespace
  3. Check cluster role bindings for argocd-argocd-server
    Inspect ClusterRoleBindings or RBAC configurations that associate cluster-wide permissions to any argocd-argocd-server ServiceAccount. Look for ClusterRoleBindings referencing this ServiceAccount as a subject.
    Affected if The argocd-argocd-server ServiceAccount is bound to a ClusterRole that grants read access to resources across all namespaces, including secrets
  4. Identify user-deployed Argo CD instances
    Review namespaces where Argo CD has been installed by checking for Argo CD deployments, operators, or custom resources that were created by non-privileged users outside the official Argo CD management namespace.
    Affected if Argo CD instances exist in namespaces created by unprivileged users, and those instances use the default argocd-argocd-server ServiceAccount with elevated permissions

Your environment is affected if any argocd-argocd-server ServiceAccount has cluster-wide read permissions through ClusterRoleBindings, particularly in namespaces where unprivileged users deployed their own Argo CD instances.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.1.1 or later
Fixed in 1.1.1
Interim mitigation

Implement RBAC policies to prevent unprivileged users from deploying Argo CD with elevated ServiceAccount permissions, or configure Argo CD to use a restricted ServiceAccount with namespace-scoped permissions only.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Argo CD >= 1.1.1; OpenShift GitOps operator version containing Argo CD 1.1.1 or later

  1. Identify the current version of Argo CD or OpenShift GitOps installed in the cluster
  2. For Argo CD (upstream): Upgrade to version 1.1.1 or later which contains the fix for CVE-2021-3557
  3. For OpenShift GitOps: Upgrade the OpenShift GitOps operator to a version that includes the fixed Argo CD (version 1.1.1 or later)
  4. In OpenShift, this can be done via the OperatorHub UI or using oc CLI: oc get packagemanifests gitops -o jsonpath='{.status.channels[*].name}' to check available channels
  5. Apply the upgrade through the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) by updating the Subscription for the gitops-operator
  6. After upgrade, verify the new version is running: oc get argocd -n argocd to confirm deployment
  7. Review and restrict ServiceAccount permissions as needed to follow least-privilege principles
Caveat Review release notes for 1.1.1 for any configuration changes or migration requirements; ensure any custom Argo CD configurations are compatible

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Openshift Gitops Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-3557 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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