CVE-2025-53547 | Helm Chart Dependency Updating With Malicious Chart.yaml Content And Symlink Can Lead To Code Execution

Helm is a package manager for Charts for Kubernetes. Prior to 3.18.4, a specially crafted Chart.yaml file along with a specially linked Chart.lock file can lead to local code execution when dependencies are updated. Fields in a Chart.yaml file, that are carried over to a Chart.lock file when dependencies are updated and this file is written, can be crafted in a way that can cause execution if that same content were in a file that is executed (e.g., a bash.rc file or shell script). If the Chart.lock file is symlinked to one of these files updating dependencies will write the lock file content to the symlinked file. This can lead to unwanted execution. Helm warns of the symlinked file but did not stop execution due to symlinking. This issue has been resolved in Helm v3.18.4.

Published: 2025-07-08 Last update: 2025-09-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-53547 is rated Low Risk (34.3/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2025-53547

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 2025-07-09 — 0.01% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-53547

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 6.0 [email protected]
8.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 6.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-53547

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-53547

GHSA-557j-xg8c-q2mm · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Helm vulnerable to Code Injection through malicious chart.yaml content

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-53547

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2025-53547: 1 source package rows (helm); 20 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 2, open 18. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2025-53547
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-53547
suse high CVE-2025-53547 severity important: SUSE including 52 source package names (2.2.1-5.22:libaudit1-3.1.1-slfo.1.1_2.1, 2.2.1-5.35:audit-3.1.1-slfo.1.1_2.1, …), 212 product×package rows across 61 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/baremetal-os-container, … (61 product lines)): Fixed 212. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-53547/

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-53547

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
helm helm < 3.17.4 cpe:2.3:a:helm:helm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
helm helm >= 3.18.0, < 3.18.4 cpe:2.3:a:helm:helm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-53547

cvelogic Threat Intelligence