Strimzi: Cross-namespace privilege escalation via Kafka.spec.entityOperator

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

8.0 · CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

• CVE-2026-55225: 0.29% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 22.20 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact Having the Topic and User operators to watch different namespaces than the one where the Kafka cluster is deployed, is a fully documented feature. When the watchedNamespace field is used within the Topic or User operator (as part of the Kafka.spec.entityOperator field), the Cluster Operator creates a Role granting full CRUD on Secrets into the specified namespace. It also creates a RoleBinding to bind such Role to the entity operator ServiceAccount within the namespace where the Kafka cluster runs. An attacker can craft a Kafka custom resource (in an attacker's namespace) with the watchedNamespace field set to a target namespace and then they can mint a token for the ServiceAccount (in the attacker's namespace) to read/write Secrets in that target. This is valid with any target namespace for which the Cluster Operator has the rights (regardless the value of the STRIMZINAMESPACE environment variable). The at-risk target namespaces are the namespaces which the user has given…

Published by the source

18 Jun 2026, 13:04 UTC

Last modified by the source

18 Jun 2026, 13:04 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 16:53 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-mw9r-p8xp-wx96

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-55225

Advisory: Strimzi: Cross-namespace privilege escalation via `Kafka.spec.entityOperator`
IDs: CVE-2026-55225, GHSA-mw9r-p8xp-wx96
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-55225 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 16:53 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.0)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: io.strimzi:strimzi 1.0.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Maven io.strimzi:strimzi: affected <= 1.0.0; fixed in 1.0.1

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Maven io.strimzi:strimzi: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on io.strimzi:strimzi.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-mw9r-p8xp-wx96 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-mw9r-p8xp-wx96 lists affected ranges: Maven io.strimzi:strimzi >=0 <=1.0.0)

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