CVE-2022-36049 — helm-controller
HIGHCVE-2022-36049 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller. A fix is available for github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Flux2 Helm Controller denial of service
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-36049.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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
github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller🐹github.com/fluxcd/flux2Real-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
Helm controller is tightly integrated with the Helm SDK. A vulnerability found in the Helm SDK allows for specific data inputs to cause high memory consumption, which in some platforms could cause the controller to panic and stop processing reconciliations.
Impact
In a shared cluster multi-tenancy environment, a tenant could create a HelmRelease that makes the controller panic, denying all other tenants from their Helm releases being reconciled.
Credits
The initial crash bug was reported by oss-fuzz. The Flux Security team produced the first exploit and worked together with the Helm Security team to ensure that both projects were patched timely.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in any of the affected repositories.
- Contact us at the CNCF Flux Channel.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller | ≥ 0.0.4&&< 0.23.0 | 0.23.0go get github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller@v0.23.0 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/fluxcd/flux2 | ≥ 0.0.17&&< 0.32.0 | 0.32.0go get github.com/fluxcd/flux2@v0.32.0 |
Affected Products
flux2fluxcdhelm-controllerfluxcdhelmhelmDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller to 0.23.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-36049 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-36049 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.