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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2025-53547

Helm Chart Dependency Updating With Malicious Chart.yaml Content And Symlink Can Lead To Code Execution

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2025-07-08
  • Fixed in3.18.4 · 3.17.4
  • WeaknessCWE-94

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

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.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2025-07-0822:15CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD · OSV
Helm
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.18≥ 3.18.0, < 3.18.43.18.4
3.18< 3.18.43.18.4
3.18≥ 3.18.0-rc.1, < 3.18.43.18.4
3.17< 3.17.43.17.4

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As GitHub_M, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • helm
    Affected
    • = < 3.18.4no fix stated

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2025-07-08

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • cerbosWolfiall versions · fixed in 0.45.1-r1and 3 other packages
  • cerbosChainguardall versions · fixed in 0.45.1-r1and 5 other packages
  • cert-manager-cmctlWolfiall versions · fixed in 2.2.0-r2
  • cert-manager-cmctlChainguardall versions · fixed in 2.2.0-r2and 1 other package
  • chart-testingWolfiall versions · fixed in 3.13.0-r3
  • chart-testingChainguardall versions · fixed in 3.13.0-r3and 1 other package
  • chartmuseumWolfiall versions · fixed in 0.16.3-r3
  • chartmuseumChainguardall versions · fixed in 0.16.3-r3

125 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2025-53547 Red Hat Product Security105 products fixed · 36 known affected

    helm.sh/helm/v3: Helm Chart Code Execution

    dvo/deployment-validation-operator-bundle as a component of Deployment Validation Operator · dvo/deployment-validation-rhel8-operator as a component of Deployment Validation Operator · mta/mta-cli-rhel9 as a component of Migration Toolkit for Applications 7 · +33 more

  • RHSA-2026:67541 Red Hat Product Security4 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes v2.15.7 security update

  • RHSA-2026:67540 Red Hat Product Security4 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes v2.13.12 security update

  • RHSA-2026:56347 Red Hat Product Security2 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Migration Toolkit for Applications

  • RHSA-2026:2572 Red Hat Product Security12 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes v2.14.2 security update

  • RHSA-2025:22684 Red Hat Product Security4 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.12.6 security update

15 more advisories

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update Helm to 3.18.4 · 3.17.4
  2. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2026:67541 · 4 productsBefore you apply this update, make sure all previously released errata that are relevant to your system are applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
  3. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2026:56347 · 2 productsBefore applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied.
  4. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2025:18242 · 1 productFor OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.…
  5. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2025:9562 · 16 productsFor OpenShift Container Platform 4.20 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.…
  6. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2025:17672 · 1 productFor OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.…
  7. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2025:16161 · 4 productsFor OpenShift Container Platform 4.15 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.…

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-01 01:02 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2025-07-08
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-557j-xg8c-q2mm

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-53547?

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.

Is CVE-2025-53547 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2025-53547 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 0.5% on 2026-11-08, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-53547?

CVE-2025-53547 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.6 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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