A critical authorization bypass vulnerability (CVE-2024-53351) has been discovered in PipeCD v0.49, allowing attackers to access service account tokens and potentially compromise entire continuous delivery pipelines. With a CVSS score of 9.8, this vulnerability requires immediate attention from security teams.
Vulnerability Details
The vulnerability stems from insecure permission handling in PipeCD’s authentication mechanism. Attackers can exploit this weakness to:
- Gain unauthorized access to service account tokens
- Escalate privileges within the deployment environment
- Potentially modify or disrupt continuous delivery pipelines
According to GitHub’s advisory database, the flaw specifically affects the Go implementation of PipeCD. The vulnerability was published in the GitHub Advisory Database on March 21, 2025.
Technical Impact
Successful exploitation could allow attackers to:
- Access sensitive deployment credentials
- Modify application deployment configurations
- Inject malicious code into deployment pipelines
- Gain persistent access to infrastructure
The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) notes that the vulnerability has been assigned CVE-2024-53351 and was published on March 21, 2025.
Affected Systems
The vulnerability specifically targets:
- PipeCD v0.49 installations
- Systems using PipeCD for Kubernetes, Terraform, or other deployment methods
- Environments where PipeCD has access to production credentials
Detection and Mitigation
Organizations should immediately:
- Identify all instances of PipeCD v0.49 in their environment
- Review access logs for unusual service account token usage
- Rotate all potentially exposed credentials
- Upgrade to the latest secure version of PipeCD
The PipeCD project maintains documentation on secure configuration practices that can help mitigate similar issues in the future.
Relevance to Security Teams
This vulnerability presents significant risks for organizations using PipeCD in their deployment pipelines. Security teams should:
- Monitor for unusual deployment activities
- Implement strict network segmentation for CI/CD systems
- Consider additional authentication controls for sensitive operations
Conclusion
CVE-2024-53351 represents a serious threat to organizations using affected versions of PipeCD. The ability to bypass authorization controls and access service account tokens could lead to widespread system compromise. Immediate action is recommended to identify vulnerable systems and apply necessary patches or workarounds.
