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NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2022-23525: Helm vulnerable to Denial of service via NULL Pointer Dereference

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 30/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.88% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 59.5% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • Fixed version: helm helm 3.10.3.
  • Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 5.3, NVD 7.5.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to helm helm 3.10.3 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

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.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Dec 15, 2022
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.8% · 59th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

30

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.8%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.5
CNA · GitHub_M
5.3
2.2 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2022-23525

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
helmhelm

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • helm helm3.0.0 and later · before 3.10.3

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • helm helm

    • < v3.10.3affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Gohelm.sh/helm/v3before 3.10.33.10.3
openSUSE:Leap 15.3helmbefore 3.10.3-150000.1.13.13.10.3-150000.1.13.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedcmctlbefore 1.10.2-1.11.10.2-1.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedhelmbefore 3.10.3-2.13.10.3-2.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedhelm3before 3.19.2-1.13.19.2-1.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Containers 15 SP4helmbefore 3.10.3-150000.1.13.13.10.3-150000.1.13.1

Same product

helm: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2019-18658In Helm 2.x before 2.15.2, commands that deal with loading a chart as a directory or packaging a chart provide an opportunity for a maliciou
    40Plan
  • CVE-2019-1010275helm Before 2.7.2 is affected by: CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation.
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2025-53547Helm Chart Dependency Updating With Malicious Chart.yaml Content And Symlink Can Lead To Code Execution
    34Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2022-36049Sep 7, 2022 · Flux2 Helm Controller denial of service
    30Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2022-23524Dec 15, 2022 · Helm vulnerable to Denial of service through string value parsing
    30Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2022-23526Dec 15, 2022 · Helm contains Denial of service through schema file
    30Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
helm helm3.10.3 · descriptionVendor (CNA)
Go:helm.sh/helm/v33.10.3Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:cmctl1.10.2-1.1 · openSUSE:TumbleweedPackage registry (OSV)
opensuse:helm3.10.3-150000.1.13.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.3Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:helm33.19.2-1.1 · openSUSE:TumbleweedPackage registry (OSV)
suse:helm3.10.3-150000.1.13.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Containers 15 SP4Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records