CVE-2020-15184: Aliases are never checked in Helm

Severity: low (CVSS 2.7 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2020-09-17 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-20

Description

In Helm before versions 2.16.11 and 3.3.2 there is a bug in which the `alias` field on a `Chart.yaml` is not properly sanitized. This could lead to the injection of unwanted information into a chart. This issue has been patched in Helm 3.3.2 and 2.16.11. A possible workaround is to manually review the `dependencies` field of any untrusted chart, verifying that the `alias` field is either not used, or (if used) does not contain newlines or path characters.

Affected products

helm: from 2.0.0 before 2.16.11; from 3.0.0 before 3.3.2 — fixed in 2.16.11, 3.3.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: helm 2.16.11, 3.3.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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