What is CVE-2023-23947?

CVE-2023-23947 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Argoproj Argo-Cd, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2023-02-16.

How severe is CVE-2023-23947?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.

Is CVE-2023-23947 known to be exploited?

1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Auth bypass in Argoproj Argo-Cd

CVE-2023-23947

Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. All Argo CD versions starting with 2.3.0-rc1 and prior to 2.3.17, 2.4.23 2.5.11, and 2.6.2 are vulnerable to an improper authorization bug which allows users who have the ability to update at least one cluster secret to update any cluster secret. The attacker could use this access to escalate privileges (potentially controlling Kubernetes resources) or to break Argo CD functionality (by preventing connections to external clusters). A patch for this vulnerability has been released in Argo CD versions 2.6.2, 2.5.11, 2.4.23, and 2.3.17. Two workarounds are available. Either modify the RBAC configuration to completely revoke all `clusters, update` access, or use the `destinations` and `clusterResourceWhitelist` fields to apply similar restrictions as the `namespaces` and `clusterResources` fields.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published 2023-02-16 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.1 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.007 (51.2th percentile), scored 2026-10-21.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 51st percentile — 51.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.007 · newest: 0.007 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Argoproj Argo-Cd — versions >= 2.3.0-rc1, < 2.3.17, >= 2.4.0, < 2.4.23, >= 2.5.0, < 2.5.11
Argoproj Argo Cd

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-863 — Incorrect Authorization

Public proof-of-concept exploits

ARPSyndicate/cvemon

References

github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/security/advisories/GHSA-3jfq-742w-xg8j (Vendor Advisory)
github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/commit/fbb0b99b1ac3361b253052bd30259fa43a520945 (Patch)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-23947?: CVE-2023-23947 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Argoproj Argo-Cd, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2023-02-16.
How severe is CVE-2023-23947?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.
Is CVE-2023-23947 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.