Renovate versions between 39.218.0 and just before 40.33.0 contain an arbitrary command injection flaw. The kustomize manager concatenates user-supplied chart names into Helm pull commands without sanitization, allowing an attacker with repository write permissions to inject malicious commands. Successful exploitation results in remote code execution on the host running Renovate, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the server.

The affected product is Renovate by renovatebot. Users running any Renovate instance built from version 39.218.0 through to 40.32.x are susceptible. The vulnerability exists when the kustomize functionality is enabled and the deployment uses the default Helm integration. The flaw is tied to the management of kustomization.yaml files within those releases.

With a CVSS score of 8.4, the vulnerability is classified as high severity. The EPSS score is not available, and it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The attack requires write access to the repositories that Renovate monitors; an attacker can craft a malicious kustomization.yaml, which Renovate processes by invoking a Helm pull command that executes the injected payload. The exploit is straightforward once the conditions are met, and the risk is significant if repository write privileges are overly broad.