Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XSummary
CVE-2026-35204 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Helm Helm. Its CVSS base score is 8.4 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-35204 is a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) affecting Helm, a package manager for Kubernetes Charts. In versions 4.0.0 through 4.1.3, a specially crafted Helm plugin causes Helm to write the plugin's contents to an arbitrary filesystem location during installation or update. This occurs when the plugin.yaml file includes a version field containing POSIX dot-dot path separators such as "/../", allowing directory traversal. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.6 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
A local attacker can exploit this vulnerability by tricking a user into installing or updating a malicious Helm plugin, requiring user interaction but no privileges. Successful exploitation enables arbitrary file writes on the filesystem, potentially leading to high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromises, with a change in scope due to the elevated privileges gained through file placement.
The vulnerability is fixed in Helm version 4.1.4, which adds validation to reject plugin.yaml files with version fields containing "/../" path separators. Security practitioners should upgrade to 4.1.4 or later, review installed plugins for suspicious version fields, and avoid untrusted plugin sources. Relevant resources include the fix commit at https://github.com/helm/helm/commit/36c8539e99bc42d7aef9b87d136254662d04f027, the release notes at https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.1.4, and the advisory at https://github.com/helm/helm/security/advisories/GHSA-vmx8-mqv2-9gmg.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-20900
Vulnerability Data
Helm is a package manager for Charts for Kubernetes. From 4.0.0 to 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. To prevent this,…
more
validate that the plugin.yaml of the Helm plugin does not include a version: field containing POSIX dot-dot path separators ie. "/../". This vulnerability is fixed in 4.1.4.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.
Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.
Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.