8

CVSS Score

3.1

-

CVSS Score

Basic Information

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CVE-2026-55225

CVE-2026-55225: Strimzi: Cross-namespace privilege escalation via `Kafka.spec.entityOperator`

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 STRIMZI_NAMESPACE environment variable). The at-risk target namespaces are the namespaces which the user has given permissions to the Cluster Operator for, by creating related RoleBinding(s).

Patches

The issue is fixed in Strimzi 1.0.1 and 1.1.0 by adding a control to enable the watched namespace feature through a dedicated environment variable within the Cluster Operator deployment. The watched namespaces feature is disabled by default.

Workarounds

A possible workaround for this issue is about using a policy agent like Kyverno or OPA to prevent the usage of the watchedNamespace at configuration level within the Kafka custom resource.

(GitHub Advisory)

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CVE-2026-55225

CVE-2026-55225:

8

CVSS Score

3.1

-

CVSS Score

Basic Information

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Technical Details

Package Name	Ecosystem	Vulnerable Versions	First Patched Version
io.strimzi:strimzi	maven	<= 1.0.0	1.0.1

Technical Details

Vulnerability Intelligence
Miggo AI

Root Cause Analysis

The vulnerability lies in the Strimzi Kafka Operator's Entity Operator, which could be tricked into creating highly privileged Roles and RoleBindings in namespaces it shouldn't have access to. This is a classic 'confused deputy' problem.

The analysis of the patch between version 1.0.0 and 1.0.1 reveals that the fix centers around two main areas:

Introducing a feature flag: A new environment variable, STRIMZI_ENTITY_OPERATOR_WATCHED_NAMESPACE_ENABLED, was added. This flag is disabled by default, preventing the Entity Operator from watching namespaces other than the one the Kafka cluster is deployed in, unless explicitly enabled by an administrator.
Modifying the reconciliation logic: The EntityOperatorReconciler class, which is responsible for managing the Entity Operator's resources, was updated to respect this new feature flag. The reconcile method within this class is the high-level function that orchestrates the creation of deployments, services, roles, and role bindings. The patch ensures that if the feature is disabled, any attempt to use a watchedNamespace outside the cluster's namespace will fail.

The io.strimzi.operator.cluster.operator.assembly.EntityOperatorReconciler.reconcile function is identified as a key vulnerable function because it is the entry point for the logic that creates the Kubernetes resources. An attacker-controlled Kafka custom resource would trigger this reconciliation, leading to the creation of the privileged Role and RoleBinding in the target namespace.

The io.strimzi.operator.cluster.model.EntityOperator.generateRole function is also identified as vulnerable because it was responsible for defining the overly permissive Role. This function would generate a Role granting permissions to manage Secrets, which is the core of the privilege escalation. The patch modified this function to be more granular and only grant the necessary permissions based on which operator (Topic or User) is being used.

In a runtime profile during exploitation, a stack trace would likely show the KafkaAssemblyOperator calling into EntityOperatorReconciler.reconcile, which in turn would call EntityOperator.generateRole to create the malicious Role in the target namespace.

Vulnerable functions

io.strimzi.operator.cluster.operator.assembly.EntityOperatorReconciler.reconcile

cluster-operator/src/main/java/io/strimzi/operator/cluster/operator/assembly/EntityOperatorReconciler.java

This function is the main entry point for reconciling the Entity Operator. Before the patch, it would unconditionally create Roles and RoleBindings in any namespace specified in the `watchedNamespace` field of the Kafka custom resource. An attacker could abuse this to gain permissions to read and write Secrets in a target namespace by crafting a Kafka resource. The `reconcile` method orchestrates the calls to create these resources, making it the central point of the vulnerability.

io.strimzi.operator.cluster.model.EntityOperator.generateRole

cluster-operator/src/main/java/io/strimzi/operator/cluster/model/EntityOperator.java

This function is responsible for generating the Kubernetes `Role` that is applied to the watched namespace. The vulnerable version of this function created a role that granted full CRUD permissions on Secrets, among other things. When an attacker specified a `watchedNamespace`, this method would generate a highly privileged role in that namespace, which the attacker could then use via the Entity Operator's ServiceAccount.

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WAF Rule

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Reasoning

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