Bug 2446551 (CVE-2026-31892)

Summary: CVE-2026-31892 github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows: Argo Workflows: Security bypass allows privilege escalation via podSpecPatch field
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: high    
Version: unspecifiedCC: jkoehler, lphiri
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in Argo Workflows. A user with privileges to submit workflows can bypass security settings defined in a WorkflowTemplate by including a `podSpecPatch` field in their workflow submission. This allows them to circumvent restrictions, even when `templateReferencing: Strict` is configured, potentially leading to unauthorized resource access or privilege escalation.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-03-11 16:01:33 UTC 
Argo Workflows is an open source container-native workflow engine for orchestrating parallel jobs on Kubernetes. From 2.9.0 to before 4.0.2 and 3.7.11, A user who can submit Workflows can completely bypass all security settings defined in a WorkflowTemplate by including a podSpecPatch field in their Workflow submission. This works even when the controller is configured with templateReferencing: Strict, which is specifically documented as a mechanism to restrict users to admin-approved templates. The podSpecPatch field on a submitted Workflow takes precedence over the referenced WorkflowTemplate during spec merging and is applied directly to the pod spec at creation time with no security validation. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.0.2 and 3.7.11.