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CriticalVulnerabilityCVE-2026-105312updated 25 Oct 2026, 15:20 UTC

Strimzi Console operator lets tenants run arbitrary images with cluster-wide access

A user who is only allowed to create Console resources in their own Kubernetes area can make the system run their own program with powerful rights. That program can read and change Kafka settings for other tenants on the same cluster.

Official, 2 sources
SeverityCriticalCVSS 9.9 of 10
Being exploited?UnclearNo reports either way yet
Fix available?UnclearNo fixed version published in the sources yet
How sure is this?Official, 2 sourcesBacked by an official source

How the attack works simplified

  1. 1Tenant creates ConsoleSets a custom container image
  2. 2Operator deploys imageRuns the attacker's code in a pod
  3. 3Reads ServiceAccount tokenToken carries cluster-wide Strimzi rights
  4. 4Accesses other tenantsReads and patches Kafka resources
  5. ResultAttacker gains cross-tenant Strimzi control

What happened

The Strimzi Console custom resource accepts an arbitrary value for spec.containers.api.spec.image, which the operator deploys into a pod whose ServiceAccount has cluster-wide read access to Strimzi CRDs (including KafkaUsers), patch on Kafkas and KafkaRebalances, and cluster-monitoring-view. The pod's projected ServiceAccount token can be read by the attacker's container.

Why it is dangerous: A low-privileged tenant can gain cross-tenant read and write access to the Strimzi control plane, potentially affecting Kafka clusters and users belonging to other tenants. Multi-tenant Kubernetes clusters running Strimzi are at risk.

Are you affected?

You are affected if you run Strimzi with the Console custom resource in a multi-tenant Kubernetes cluster where tenants have create permission on Console resources.

unknown

What to do

  1. Restrict who can create Console custom resources, and review existing Console resources for unexpected image values
  2. Remove or narrow the ClusterRoleBinding that grants cluster-wide Strimzi CRD access to the Console pod's ServiceAccount
  3. Check the GitHub Advisory GHSA-5c9w-jj2v-89qh for the fixed version and update Strimzi once available

Timeline

  1. 20 Oct 2026, 12:17 UTC
    Publicly disclosed
  2. 20 Oct 2026, 12:17 UTC
    Reported by NVD · NVD
  3. 25 Oct 2026, 15:20 UTC
    GitHub Advisory reported on it · GitHub Advisory

Sources 2 reports, oldest first

Official vendor, government CERT or advisory database

Technical details

ID
CVE-2026-105312 · GHSA-5c9w-jj2v-89qh
CVSS
9.9 / 10
EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation within 30 days
Disclosed
20 Oct 2026, 12:17 UTC
On Zero Radar
before the radar started
Last change
25 Oct 2026, 15:20 UTC

The plain-language parts and the attack diagram were written by an AI model (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5) from the sources above. Facts like versions, exploitation and dates come from the sources themselves. How Zero Radar works

Strimzi Console operator lets tenants run arbitrary images with cluster-wide access · Zero Radar