How severe is CVE-2023-25165?

CVE-2023-25165 has a CVSS score of 4.3/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-25165?

CVE-2023-25165 affects the following packages: helm.sh/helm/v3 (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2023-25165?

Update helm.sh/helm/v3 to 3.11.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-25165 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-25165 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-2023-25165 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.

Is CVE-2023-25165 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2023-25165, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-25165?

CVE-2023-25165 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.8%, placing it in the 56th 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-2023-25165?

CVE-2023-25165 is classified as Information Exposure (CWE-200). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-25165 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-25165 was published on February 8, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 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

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2023-25165 — helm

MEDIUMFix: helm/helm@5abcf74

CVE-2023-25165 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) Information Exposure vulnerability in helm.sh/helm/v3. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for helm.sh/helm/v3 — see the affected versions and patch details below.

getHostByName Function Information Disclosure

Also known asBIT-helm-2023-25165GHSA-pwcw-6f5g-gxf8GO-2023-1547

Published

Feb 8, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 5, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Proof-of-concept exploit code exists

CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-25165.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs56th percentile — riskier than 56% 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

1 pkg affected

🐹helm.sh/helm/v3

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

A Helm contributor discovered an information disclosure vulnerability using the getHostByName template function.

Impact

getHostByName is a Helm template function introduced in Helm v3. The function is able to accept a hostname and return an IP address for that hostname. To get the IP address the function performs a DNS lookup. The DNS lookup happens when used with helm install|upgrade|template or when the Helm SDK is used to render a chart.

Information passed into the chart can be disclosed to the DNS servers used to lookup the IP address. For example, a malicious chart could inject getHostByName into a chart in order to disclose values to a malicious DNS server.

Patches

The issue has been fixed in Helm 3.11.1.

Workarounds

Prior to using a chart with Helm verify the getHostByName function is not being used in a template to disclose any information you do not want passed to DNS servers.

For more information

Helm's security policy is spelled out in detail in our SECURITY document.

Credits

Disclosed by Philipp Stehle at SAP.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`helm.sh/helm/v3`	≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.11.1	3.11.1`go get helm.sh/helm/v3@v3.11.1`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

helmhelm

≥ 3.0.0 && < 3.11.1

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

Helm is a tool that streamlines installing and managing Kubernetes appli…

github.comNVDFeb 2023

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 3.11.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-25165 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatModerate

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12	`openshift4/ose-console-operator:v4.12.0-202403060808.p0.g7ea10a2.assembly.stream.el8`	RHSA-2024:1265
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.13	`openshift4/ose-console-operator:v4.13.0-202304280015.p0.g0ce3d0b.assembly.stream`	RHSA-2023:1326
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14	`openshift4/oc-mirror-plugin-rhel8:v4.14.0-202310201027.p0.g68cf97e.assembly.stream`	RHSA-2023:5006

Frequently Asked Questions

A Helm contributor discovered an information disclosure vulnerability using the `getHostByName` template function. ### Impact `getHostByName` is a Helm template function introduced in Helm v3. The function is able to accept a hostname and return an IP address for that hostname. To get the IP address the function performs a DNS lookup. The DNS lookup happens when used with `helm install|upgrade|template` or when the Helm SDK is used to render a chart. Information passed into the chart can be disclosed to the DNS servers used to lookup the IP address. For example, a malicious chart could inje