GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg is a high-severity (CVSS 8.6) Path Traversal vulnerability in helm.sh/helm/v4. A fix is available for helm.sh/helm/v4 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Helm has a path traversal in plugin metadata version enables arbitrary file write outside Helm plugin directory
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 GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
helm.sh/helm/v4Real-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 is a package manager for Charts for Kubernetes. In Helm versions >=4.0.0 and <=4.1.3, a specially crafted Helm plugin, when installed or updated, will cause Helm to write the contents of the plugin to an arbitrary filesystem location.
Impact
A Helm user who installs or updates a plugin that is specially crafted can cause Helm to attempt to write the content of the affected plugin to an arbitrary location on the user's filesystem. Impacted users risk potentially overwriting user and system files which may further compromise the integrity of a system.
Patches
This issue has been patched in Helm v4.1.4
Installing/updating a plugin with a non-SemVer version (which excludes path traversal patterns) will result in an error.
Workarounds
Validate that the plugin.yaml of the Helm plugin does not include a version: field containing POSIX dot-dot path separators ie. "/../".
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | helm.sh/helm/v4 | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.1.4 | 4.1.4go get helm.sh/helm/v4@v4.1.4 |
Affected Products
helmhelmDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for helm.sh/helm/v4, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update helm.sh/helm/v4 to 4.1.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
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.
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Helm CLI 4.1 | helm-cli-4.1.4 | RHSA-2026:26441 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.