CVE-2026-35206 Helm Chart extraction output directory collapse via `Chart.yaml` name dot-segment

What is CVE-2026-35206?

CVE-2026-35206 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in helm, published on 9 Apr 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

Helm is a package manager for Charts for Kubernetes. In Helm versions <=3.20.1 and <=4.1.3, a specially crafted Chart will cause helm pull --untar [chart URL | repo/chartname] to write the Chart's contents to the immediate output directory (as defaulted to the current working directory; or as given by the --destination and --untardir flags), rather than the expected output directory suffixed by the chart's name. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.20.2 and 4.1.4.

Weakness: CWE-22

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-35206?

6 open source packages ship an affected version, including helm.sh/helm/v3, helm and helm.sh/helm/v4. It affects 1 product.

Products include Helm Helm.

How do I fix CVE-2026-35206?

Upgrade helm.sh/helm/v3 to 3.20.2 or later.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2026-35206 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-35206 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in helm

• CVE-2019-18658 Helm Unsafe Link Following Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-1010275 Helm Improper Certificate Validation Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-25210 Information disclosure in n/a Critical 9.1
• CVE-2025-53547 Helm Chart Dependency Updating With Malicious Chart.yaml Content And Symlink Can Lead To Code Execution High 8.5
• CVE-2020-11013 lookup Function Information Discolosure in Helm High 8.5

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BIT-helm-2026-35206, CLEANSTART-2026-AA09584, CLEANSTART-2026-UQ10912, ECHO-032a-bfd9-f761, GHSA-hr2v-4r36-88hr, GO-2026-5435 and 79 more.