CVE-2022-23525: Helm vulnerable to Denial of service via NULL Pointer Dereference
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2022-23525 is a high (CVSS 7.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in helm. EPSS estimates a 0.89% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 59.3% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 5.3, network access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 3 · Related 6Timeline
- 15-12-2022PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 18-04-2025Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
Helm is a tool for managing Charts, pre-configured Kubernetes resources. Versions prior to 3.10.3 are subject to NULL Pointer Dereference in the _repo_package. The _repo_ package contains a handler that processes the index file of a repository. For example, the Helm client adds references to chart repositories where charts are managed. The _repo_ package parses the index file of the repository and loads it into structures Go can work with. Some index files can cause array data structures to be created causing a memory violation. Applications that use the _repo_ package in the Helm SDK to parse an index file can suffer a Denial of Service when that input causes a panic that cannot be recovered from. The Helm Client will panic with an index file that causes a memory violation panic. Helm is not a long running service so the panic will not affect future uses of the Helm client. This issue has been patched in 3.10.3. SDK users can validate index files that are correctly formatted before passing them to the _repo_ functions.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 4 sources · 1 version- CVE.orgCNA5.3MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:LDiffers
- OSV · GoEcosystem advisory · calculated5.3MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:LDiffers
- OSV · ChainguardEcosystem advisory · calculated5.3MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:LDiffers
EPSS trend
Probability
0.89%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
59%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
Increase +0.03 pp
From 0.86% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.
Not in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Chainguard3 products
- helm-fipsAll versions (No fix recorded)
- helm-fips-3All versions (No fix recorded)
- helm-fips-4All versions (No fix recorded)
Helm1 product
- helm< v3.10.3 | ≥ 3.0.0, < 3.10.3
Helm.sh/helm1 product
- v3< 3.10.3
Opensuse1 product
- cmctl&distro=openSUSE Tumbleweed< 1.10.2-1.1
4 vendors · 6 products
References
7 links- github.com/helm/helm/security/advisories/GHSA-53c4-hhmh-vw5qX Refsource CONFIRMWEBAdvisoryThird Party Advisory
- github.com/helm/helm/commit/638ebffbc2e445156f3978f02fd83d9af1e56f5bX Refsource MISCWEBFIXPatchThird Party Advisory
- github.com/helm/helmPACKAGE