Helm has a path traversal in plugin metadata version enables arbitrary file write outside Helm plugin directory

CVE-2026-35204 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Helm is a package manager for Charts for Kubernetes. In Helm versions >=4.0.0 and <=4.1.3, a specially crafted Helm plugin, when installed or updated, will cause Helm to write the contents of the plugin to an arbitrary filesystem location.

Impact

A Helm user who installs or updates a plugin that is specially crafted can cause Helm to attempt to write the content of the affected plugin to an arbitrary location on the user's filesystem. Impacted users risk potentially overwriting user and system files which may further compromise the integrity of a system.

Patches

This issue has been patched in Helm v4.1.4

Installing/updating a plugin with a non-SemVer version (which excludes path traversal patterns) will result in an error.

Workarounds

Validate that the plugin.yaml of the Helm plugin does not include a version: field containing POSIX dot-dot path separators ie. "/../".

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-04-10 15:32:56 UTC
Updated
2026-04-24 20:41:59 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-04-10 15:32:56 UTC
NVD published
2026-04-09

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.01% 1.65%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
8.6 3.1 —
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.
8.4 4.0 —
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
Attacker needs local access on the target system.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:P)
A user has to participate (for example click/open/approve).
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:H)
High integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:L)
Limited availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:H)
High confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:H)
High integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:H)
High availability impact on subsequent systems.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg ↗
CVE CVE-2026-35204 ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Credits

  • maru1009 (analyst)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
go helm.sh/helm/v4 >= 4.0.0, <= 4.1.3 4.1.4 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence