Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-66626

RCE in Argoproj Argo Workflows ≤ 3.6.14

Published
09 December 2025
Modified
19 December 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0066 49th percentile
Risk Priority 61 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-66626 is a high-severity Relative Path Traversal (CWE-23) vulnerability in Argoproj Argo Workflows. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 49th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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-3 (Access Enforcement) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-66626 is a vulnerability in Argo Workflows, an open-source container-native workflow engine for orchestrating parallel jobs on Kubernetes. It affects versions 3.6.13 and below, as well as versions 3.7.0 through 3.7.4, due to unsafe untar code that mishandles symbolic links in archives. Specifically, the computation of a symbolic link's target and the subsequent security check are flawed, enabling file overwrites outside intended directories. The issue carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H) and maps to CWEs-23 (Relative Path Traversal), CWE-78 (OS Command Injection), and CWE-59 (Symbolic Link Following).

An attacker requires low privileges (PR:L), such as those of an authenticated Kubernetes user able to submit workflows, and network access to the Argo server. By supplying a malicious archive containing symbolic links during workflow execution, they can overwrite the file /var/run/argo/argoexec with a custom script. This script executes automatically at the pod's startup, granting high-impact integrity and availability disruption, such as arbitrary code execution within the pod's context.

GitHub Security Advisories (GHSA-p84v-gxvw-73pf and GHSA-xrqc-7xgx-c9vh) confirm the vulnerability and note that the patch for the related CVE-2025-62156 fails against symbolic link attacks. Mitigation requires upgrading to Argo Workflows versions 3.6.14 or 3.7.5, where the fix addresses the flawed link target computation in executor.go (lines 1034-1037) via commit 6b92af23f35aed4d4de8b04adcaf19d68f006de1.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Argo Workflows is an open source container-native workflow engine for orchestrating parallel jobs on Kubernetes. Versions 3.6.13 and below and versions 3.7.0 through 3.7.4, contain unsafe untar code that handles symbolic links in archives. Concretely, the computation of a link's…

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target and the subsequent check are flawed. An attacker can overwrite the file /var/run/argo/argoexec with a script of their choice, which would be executed at the pod's start. The patch deployed against CVE-2025-62156 is ineffective against malicious archives containing symbolic links. This issue is fixed in versions 3.6.14 and 3.7.5.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1034 Path Interception Persistence
**This technique has been deprecated.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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CVE-2026-71950Shared CWE-78
CVE-2024-32123Shared CWE-78
CVE-2024-0298Shared CWE-78
CVE-2020-37012Shared CWE-78

Affected Assets

argoproj
argo workflows
≤ 3.6.14 · 3.7.0 — 3.7.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2
  • V15.4.2
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Proper enforcement of access authorizations on the resolved target resource stops a link from reaching an unintended object.

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.

Explicit validation of path inputs stops .. sequences from ever being interpreted by the file system.

Information-flow rules can be configured to reject traversals that would move data outside an approved directory boundary.

Least privilege reduces the set of reachable files even when a traversal succeeds.

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that prevent relative traversal.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

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.

finds

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis, but does not itself implement the fix.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path-handling controls that directly prevent relative path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against path traversal and other injection flaws.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include directory isolation and canonicalization, reducing but not eliminating traversal risk.

prevents

Secure coding standards require neutralizing path traversal sequences, directly addressing CWE-23.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files can be reached, mitigating impact but not preventing the traversal flaw.

References