How severe is CVE-2020-15185?

CVE-2020-15185 has a CVSS score of 2.7/10, rated LOW. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-15185?

CVE-2020-15185 affects the following packages: helm.sh/helm/v3 (Go), helm.sh/helm (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15185?

Update helm.sh/helm/v3 to 3.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15185 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-15185 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for helm.sh/helm/v3, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-15185 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Is CVE-2020-15185 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2020-15185 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-15185?

CVE-2020-15185 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.9%, placing it in the 59th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-15185?

CVE-2020-15185 is classified as CWE-74 (CWE-74), CWE-694 (CWE-694). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-15185 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-15185 was published on September 17, 2020 and was last updated on October 20, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

LOW severity

CVE-2020-15185 — helm

LOWFix: helm/helm@055dd41

CVE-2020-15185 is a low-severity (CVSS 2.7) CWE-74 vulnerability in helm.sh/helm/v3. A fix is available for helm.sh/helm/v3 — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Repository index file allows for duplicates of the same chart entry in helm

Also known asBIT-helm-2020-15185GHSA-jm56-5h66-w453

Published

Sep 17, 2020

Updated

Oct 20, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 22, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs59th percentile — riskier than 59% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2020-15185 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

2 pkgs affected

🐹helm.sh/helm/v3🐹helm.sh/helm

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Impact

During a security audit of Helm's code base, security researchers at Trail of Bits identified a bug in which the a Helm repository can contain duplicates of the same chart, with the last one always used. If a repository is compromised, this lowers the level of access that an attacker needs to inject a bad chart into a repository.

To perform this attack, an attacker must have write access to the index file (which can occur during a MITM attack on a non-SSL connection).

Specific Go Packages Affected

helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/repo

Patches

This issue has been patched in Helm 3.3.2 and 2.16.11

Workarounds

do not install charts from repositories you do not trust
fetch charts using a secure channel of communication (such as TLS)
use helm pull to fetch the chart, then review the chart’s content (either manually, or with helm verify if it has been signed) to ensure it has not been tampered with
manually review the index file in the Helm repository cache before installing software.

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`helm.sh/helm/v3`	≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.3.2	3.3.2`go get helm.sh/helm/v3@v3.3.2`
🐹Go	`helm.sh/helm`	all versions	2.16.11`go get helm.sh/helm@v2.16.11`

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations

Application

helmhelm

≥ 3.0.0 && < 3.3.2

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for helm.sh/helm/v3, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update helm.sh/helm/v3 to 3.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15185 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact During a security audit of Helm's code base, security researchers at Trail of Bits identified a bug in which the a Helm repository can contain duplicates of the same chart, with the last one always used. If a repository is compromised, this lowers the level of access that an attacker needs to inject a bad chart into a repository. To perform this attack, an attacker must have write access to the index file (which can occur during a MITM attack on a non-SSL connection). ### Specific Go Packages Affected helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/repo ### Patches This issue has been patched in Helm 3.3.