How severe is CVE-2020-15186?

CVE-2020-15186 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-2020-15186?

CVE-2020-15186 affects the following packages: helm.sh/helm/v3 (Go), helm.sh/helm (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15186?

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-2020-15186 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-15186 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-2020-15186 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-2020-15186 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2020-15186 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-2020-15186?

CVE-2020-15186 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.0%, placing it in the 62th 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-2020-15186?

CVE-2020-15186 is classified as Improper Input Validation (CWE-20), CWE-74 (CWE-74). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-15186 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-15186 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-2020-15186 — helm

LOWFix: helm/helm@809e2d9

CVE-2020-15186 is a low-severity (CVSS 2.7) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in helm.sh/helm/v3. A fix is available for helm.sh/helm/v3 — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Improper Sanitizing of plugin names in helm

Also known asBIT-helm-2020-15186GHSA-m54r-vrmv-hw33

Published

Sep 17, 2020

Updated

Oct 20, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 4, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs62th percentile — riskier than 62% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

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

Security researchers at Trail of Bits discovered that plugin names are not sanitized properly. As a result, a malicious plugin author could use characters in a plugin name that would result in unexpected behavior, such as duplicating the name of another plugin or spoofing the output to helm --help.

Specific Go Packages Affected

helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/plugin

Patches

This issue has been patched in Helm 3.3.2.

Workarounds

Do not install untrusted Helm plugins. Examine the name field in the plugin.yaml file for a plugin, looking for characters outside of the [a-zA-Z0-9._-] range.

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-2020-15186 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 Security researchers at Trail of Bits discovered that plugin names are not sanitized properly. As a result, a malicious plugin author could use characters in a plugin name that would result in unexpected behavior, such as duplicating the name of another plugin or spoofing the output to `helm --help`. ### Specific Go Packages Affected helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/plugin ### Patches This issue has been patched in Helm 3.3.2. ### Workarounds Do not install untrusted Helm plugins. Examine the `name` field in the `plugin.yaml` file for a plugin, looking for characters outside of the [a-zA-Z