CVE-2026-35206
Received Received - Intake
Directory Traversal in Helm Charts Causes Unsafe File Extraction

Publication date: 2026-04-09

Last updated on: 2026-04-16

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description
Helm is a package manager for Charts for Kubernetes. In Helm versions <=3.20.1 and <=4.1.3, a specially crafted Chart will cause helm pull --untar [chart URL | repo/chartname] to write the Chart's contents to the immediate output directory (as defaulted to the current working directory; or as given by the --destination and --untardir flags), rather than the expected output directory suffixed by the chart's name. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.20.2 and 4.1.4.
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Meta Information
Published
2026-04-09
Last Modified
2026-04-16
Generated
2026-06-16
AI Q&A
2026-04-10
EPSS Evaluated
2026-06-15
NVD
CVE-2026-35206
EUVD
EUVD-2026-21100
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
helm helm From 4.0.0 (inc) to 4.1.4 (exc)
helm helm to 3.20.2 (exc)
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-22 The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects Helm, a package manager for Kubernetes Charts, in versions up to 3.20.1 and 4.1.3. When using the command 'helm pull --untar' with a specially crafted Chart, the contents of the Chart are written directly to the immediate output directory (which defaults to the current working directory or can be specified by flags), instead of being placed in a subdirectory named after the Chart as expected.

This behavior can lead to files being extracted in unintended locations, potentially overwriting existing files or causing confusion about file placement.

The issue is fixed in Helm versions 3.20.2 and 4.1.4.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can impact users by causing files from a Helm Chart to be extracted into unintended directories, such as the current working directory, rather than a dedicated subdirectory.

This may lead to overwriting important files, cluttering directories, or introducing unexpected files into critical locations, which could disrupt system operations or deployment processes.

Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, upgrade Helm to version 3.20.2 or later, or 4.1.4 or later, where the issue has been fixed.

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