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GHSA-q8q8-93cv-v6h8

HighCVSS 8.5 / 10
Published May 27, 2021·Last modified Mar 13, 2026
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

The Helm core maintainers have identified an information disclosure vulnerability in Helm 3.0.0-3.1.2.

Impact

lookup is a Helm template function introduced in Helm v3. It is able to lookup resources in the cluster to check for the existence of specific resources and get details about them. This can be used as part of the process to render templates.

The documented behavior of helm template states that it does not attach to a remote cluster. However, as the recently added lookup template function circumvents this restriction and connects to the cluster even during helm template and helm install|update|delete|rollback --dry-run. The user is not notified of this behavior.

Running helm template should not make calls to a cluster. This is different from install, which is presumed to have access to a cluster in order to load resources into Kubernetes. Helm 2 is unaffected by this vulnerability.

A malicious chart author could inject a lookup into a chart that, when rendered through helm template, performs unannounced lookups against the cluster a user's KUBECONFIG file points to. This information can then be disclosed via the output of helm template.

Patches

This issue has been fixed in Helm 3.2.0

Workarounds

Due to another bug (also fixed in Helm 3.2.0), the command helm lint will fail with an error if the lookup function is used in a chart. Therefore, run helm lint on an untrusted chart before running helm template.

Alternately, setting the KUBECONFIG environment variable to point to an empty Kubernetes configuration file will prevent unintended network connections.

Finally, a chart may be manually analyzed for the presence of a lookup function in any file in the templates/ directory.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Risk Scores
Base Score
8.5

The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker needs basic access or low-level privileges. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability can affect other systems as well, not just the initial system. There is a high impact on the confidentiality of the information. There is a low impact on the integrity of the data.

Threat Intelligence
7.8

Exploitation activity has been observed. Apply available patches or mitigations urgently.

EPSS
N/A

Probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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