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HelmApplication

CVE-2022-23524

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-12-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.10.3 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Helm is a tool for managing Charts, pre-configured Kubernetes resources. Versions prior to 3.10.3 are subject to Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, resulting in Denial of Service. Input to functions in the _strvals_ package can cause a stack overflow. In Go, a stack overflow cannot be recovered from. Applications that use functions from the _strvals_ package in the Helm SDK can have a Denial of Service attack when they use this package and it panics. This issue has been patched in 3.10.3. SDK users can validate strings supplied by users won't create large arrays causing significant memory usage before passing them to the _strvals_ functions.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The _strvals_ package in Helm SDK versions prior to 3.10.3 contains an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability where malicious input can cause a stack overflow. Since Go cannot recover from stack overflows, this leads to an unrecoverable panic and denial of service in any application using this package.

MitigationUpgrade Helm SDK to version 3.10.3 or later to obtain the patch. As a workaround, implement input validation to reject or limit strings that could create large arrays before passing them to _strvals_ functions.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
HelmApplication
Affected:>= 3.0.0, < 3.10.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if Helm is installed
    Run 'helm version' or 'helm --version' on the system
    Affected if Helm command returns a version number, indicating Helm is present
  2. Identify the installed Helm version
    Examine the version output from 'helm version' - look for a version string in the format v3.x.y
    Affected if The version shows v3.x.y where x is less than 10, OR v3.10.x where x is less than 3 (for example, v3.10.0, v3.10.1, or v3.10.2)
  3. Compare against affected range
    Compare your version to the affected range: >= 3.0.0 and < 3.10.3. Any version from 3.0.0 through 3.10.2 is vulnerable.
    Affected if Your Helm version falls within 3.0.0 <= version < 3.10.3 (this includes all 3.0.x, 3.1.x through 3.9.x, and 3.10.0-3.10.2)
  4. Check for applications using Helm SDK
    If you have custom applications using the Helm SDK (github.com/helm/helm or helm.sh/helm), check their dependency version for helm.sh/helm or the strvals package
    Affected if Custom applications use Helm SDK version < 3.10.3

You are affected if Helm or any Helm SDK-based application runs version 3.0.0 through 3.10.2 inclusive.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.10.3 or later
Fixed in 3.10.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Helm SDK to version 3.10.3 or later to obtain the patch. As a workaround, implement input validation to reject or limit strings that could create large arrays before passing them to _strvals_ functions.

Recommended fix High confidence

Helm 3.10.3 or later

  1. Check current Helm version by running: helm version
  2. Backup any Helm configurations, releases, or custom charts as a precaution
  3. Download and install Helm 3.10.3 or later from the official release (e.g., https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.10.3) using your preferred method (package manager, direct binary, or script)
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by running: helm version
  5. Ensure any applications using the Helm SDK (strvals package) are also updated if they bundle Helm internally
Caveat None documented in the advisory

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Helm Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,300
Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-23524 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data