Security Resilience

CVE-2024-21662

Argoproj Argo Cd ≤ 2.8.13

Public PoC
Published
18 March 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0084 57th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2024-21662 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (CWE-307) vulnerability in Argoproj Argo Cd. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Password Guessing (T1110.001); ranked in the top 43% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-7 (Unsuccessful Logon Attempts) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Prior to versions 2.8.13, 2.9.9, and 2.10.4, an attacker can effectively bypass the rate limit and brute force protections by exploiting the application's weak cache-based mechanism. This loophole in…

more

security can be combined with other vulnerabilities to attack the default admin account. This flaw undermines a patch for CVE-2020-8827 intended to protect against brute-force attacks. The application's brute force protection relies on a cache mechanism that tracks login attempts for each user. This cache is limited to a `defaultMaxCacheSize` of 1000 entries. An attacker can overflow this cache by bombarding it with login attempts for different users, thereby pushing out the admin account's failed attempts and effectively resetting the rate limit for that account. This is a severe vulnerability that enables attackers to perform brute force attacks at an accelerated rate, especially targeting the default admin account. Users should upgrade to version 2.8.13, 2.9.9, or 2.10.4 to receive a patch.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
Adversaries with no prior knowledge of legitimate credentials within the system or environment may guess passwords to attempt access to accounts.
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.
T1014 Rootkit Stealth
Adversaries may use rootkits to hide the presence of programs, files, network connections, services, drivers, and other system components.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-21652Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2024-28175Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2025-47933Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2026-45738Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2024-21661Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2023-25163Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2023-40029Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2023-40025Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2026-42880Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd
CVE-2023-40026Same product: Argoproj Argo Cd

Affected Assets

argoproj
argo cd
≤ 2.8.13 · 2.9.0 — 2.9.9 · 2.10.0 — 2.10.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-7 directly enforces limits on consecutive failed logons, structurally blocking brute-force exploitation of the weakness.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

DE.CM-03 partial match
blocks

Behavioral monitoring of authentication activity can detect excessive failed attempts after they occur.

PR.AA-03 partial match
blocks

Authentication enforcement directly includes lockout, throttling, and MFA policies that prevent brute-force attempts.

PR.PS-04 partial match
blocks

Generating auth logs enables later detection or forensics but does not itself restrict attempts.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

removes
removes
removes
removes
removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204427 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured to lock accounts for a minimum of 15 minutes after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a 15-minute timeframe. blocks CWE-307
  • V-204428 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must lock the associated account after three unsuccessful root logon attempts are made within a 15-minute period. blocks CWE-307

References