CVE-2022-36055 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Helm, a widely used package manager for Kubernetes that manages Charts—pre-configured Kubernetes resource packages. The vulnerability resides in the _strvals_ package within the Helm SDK, which is responsible for parsing string inputs into Go data structures. Specifically, certain crafted string inputs can cause the parser to create excessively large array data structures, leading to uncontrolled resource consumption and ultimately triggering an out-of-memory (OOM) panic. This panic results in a denial of service (DoS) condition as the Helm client process crashes and cannot recover from the panic. The vulnerability is triggered via user-supplied input to Helm commands that accept value-setting flags such as --set and --set-string. Since Helm is primarily a client-side tool and not a long-running service, the impact is limited to the current invocation of the Helm client, and subsequent uses are unaffected. The issue affects Helm versions prior to 3.9.4, where it has been resolved. SDK users embedding the _strvals_ package should implement input validation to prevent large arrays from being created before passing strings to the parser. No known exploits have been reported in the wild to date. The root cause is classified under CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption), indicating that the vulnerability arises from the failure to limit resource usage during input parsing, leading to a denial of service via resource exhaustion.

For European organizations leveraging Kubernetes for container orchestration, Helm is a critical tool for deploying and managing applications. This vulnerability could disrupt deployment pipelines or automation scripts that rely on Helm client invocations with user-supplied input for configuration. Although the impact is limited to denial of service on the Helm client process rather than persistent service outages, it can cause operational delays, failed deployments, or interruptions in continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) workflows. Organizations with automated Helm deployments that accept dynamic input from users or external sources are particularly at risk. The vulnerability does not directly compromise confidentiality or integrity but affects availability by causing crashes. In environments where Helm is integrated into automated tooling or developer workflows, repeated exploitation could degrade operational efficiency. However, since Helm is not a long-running service, the overall scope of impact is constrained to the client runtime. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the potential for disruption in critical Kubernetes deployment processes remains significant, especially in large-scale or highly automated environments.

1. Upgrade all Helm clients to version 3.9.4 or later, where this vulnerability is patched. 2. For organizations embedding the Helm SDK and the _strvals_ package, implement strict input validation to detect and reject strings that could cause large array allocations before passing them to the parser. 3. Limit or sanitize user-supplied inputs in deployment scripts or CI/CD pipelines that invoke Helm commands with --set or --set-string flags to prevent maliciously crafted inputs. 4. Incorporate Helm client execution monitoring in automation workflows to detect and alert on unexpected crashes or panics. 5. Educate developers and DevOps teams about safe usage patterns of Helm value-setting flags and the risks of unvalidated input. 6. Consider implementing resource limits or sandboxing on environments where Helm commands are executed to contain the impact of potential crashes. 7. Regularly audit Helm client versions across the organization to ensure timely patching and compliance with security best practices.