CVE-2020-15186: Improper sanitization of plugin names 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 plugin names are not sanitized properly. As a result, a malicious plugin author could use characters in a plugin name that would result in unexpected behavior, such as duplicating the name of another plugin or spoofing the output to `helm --help`. This issue has been patched in Helm 3.3.2. A possible workaround is to not install untrusted Helm plugins. Examine the `name` field in the `plugin.yaml` file for a plugin, looking for characters outside of the [a-zA-Z0-9._-] range.

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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