CVE-2021-3557

A flaw was found in argocd. Any unprivileged user is able to deploy argocd in their namespace and with the created ServiceAccount argocd-argocd-server, the unprivileged user is able to read all resources of the cluster including all secrets which might enable privilege escalations. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality.

Published: 2022-02-16 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-3557 is rated Moderate Risk (43.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.73%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-3557

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.24% 0.73% +0.50%
2 2025-03-17 0.06% 0.24% +0.17%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-3557

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-3557

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3557

vendor priority summary link
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3557

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3557

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
argoproj argo_cd < 1.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:argoproj:argo_cd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openshift_gitops 1.1 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openshift_gitops:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-3557

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961929 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence