External risk intelligence

Renovate Helm Command Injection Vulnerability

CVE advisorySeverity: CRITICAL (CVSS 9.3)

CVE-2024-58376

Renovate is a build-time dependency management tool typically executed within internal CI/CD pipelines or developer workflows. It is not an internet-facing service, edge gateway, or public-facing application; the vulnerability requires manipulation of repository configurations by an entity already possessing commit access to the target project.

OS Command Injection

Halo Surface Signal: 1 out of 5 — much less likely to be public-facing.

External exposure likelihood

Horizon Alert

Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters

A command injection vulnerability exists in Renovate, a software dependency update tool, allowing attackers with commit access to execute arbitrary commands. This could lead to a compromise of the execution environment where Renovate operates.

Developers can inject commands via project settings.
Leadership should note the access required for exploitation.
Confirm relevance and exposure of this tool.

Attack Path

How an attacker could exploit the issue

An attacker with commit access could exploit this vulnerability by manipulating registry aliases in Renovate's configuration. When Renovate adds a Helm repository, it processes these aliases, and by including unquoted shell metacharacters, an attacker can inject arbitrary commands. These commands are then executed within Renovate's environment, potentially allowing the attacker to gain full control.

Requires commit access to the project.
Manipulates registry aliases during repository addition.
Results in arbitrary command execution.

Live Threat

Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context

This vulnerability could affect the execution environment of Renovate, a dependency management tool, when its helmv3 manager handles registry aliases. An attacker with commit access could exploit this by manipulating registry aliases with special characters, leading to arbitrary command execution within Renovate's operational context.

Renovate's execution environment.
Via manipulation of registry aliases.
Full access to execution environment.

Operational Fix

Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps

This critical vulnerability in Renovate's helmv3 manager requires immediate attention from teams responsible for CI/CD pipelines and code repository management. The first practical step is to identify all instances of the affected Renovate versions, confirm their exposure and business criticality, and then coordinate remediation with the responsible application or platform owners.

Identify affected Renovate instances.
Verify reachability and business criticality.
Plan remediation with application owners.

Supplementary metadata

CVSS vector

Validate whether this threat affects your internet-facing exposure.

Halo Threat Intelligence helps prioritize remediation with Halo Surface Signal and H/A/L/O context. Start exposure validation with a free external attack surface trial.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Renovate?

Renovate is an automated dependency management tool widely used by developers to keep software libraries and packages up to date. It integrates into version control systems to monitor project dependencies and automatically suggests or applies updates via pull requests, ensuring applications use recent, secure code versions.

What is the nature of CVE-2024-58376?

This vulnerability is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78). It occurs when a program passes untrusted data to a system shell without sufficient cleaning. In this specific case, the Renovate helmv3 manager fails to properly handle certain configuration keys, allowing malicious input to be interpreted as system commands instead of simple text.

How is this command injection triggered?

An attacker triggers this flaw by modifying repository configuration files to include unquoted shell metacharacters within registry aliases. When Renovate runs the helm repo add command, it inadvertently executes those injected characters. Crucially, the vulnerability does not trigger if registry aliases are configured solely with standard, safe character sets.

Is my Renovate instance at risk?

Per Halo Surface Signal, this tool typically runs inside internal CI/CD pipelines and is not an internet-facing service. The primary risk is not from external web attackers, but rather from malicious or compromised users who already possess commit access to your code repositories, allowing them to manipulate the configuration files that Renovate processes.

How should I respond to this vulnerability?

Teams managing CI/CD pipelines should prioritize identifying all environments running versions 37.158.0 through 37.198.0 of Renovate. Once located, coordinate with your infrastructure team to update the tool to a secure version and audit repository configurations to ensure no suspicious registry aliases have been introduced.

References

Written by Nicholas Merritt

Nicholas Merritt is VP of Security Solutions at Halo Security. With more than 25 years across application security, vulnerability prioritization, and offensive security, he helps teams translate threat data into practical exposure validation and remediation focus. He authors Halo Threat Intelligence CVE advisories using Halo Surface Signal and H/A/L/O context to prioritize internet-facing risk.