Privilege escalation in Strimzi Strimzi-Kafka-Operator

CVE-2026-55225

Strimzi provides a way to run an Apache Kafka cluster on Kubernetes or OpenShift in various deployment configurations. In Strimzi 1.0.0 and earlier, an attacker who can create a Kafka custom resource can set Kafka.spec.entityOperator watchedNamespace to a target namespace, causing the Cluster Operator to create a Role with full Secret CRUD permissions there and bind it to the Entity Operator ServiceAccount in the attacker's namespace. The attacker can mint a token for that ServiceAccount and read or write Secrets in any target namespace where the Cluster Operator has been granted permissions, regardless of STRIMZI_NAMESPACE. This issue is fixed in versions 1.0.1 and 1.1.0.

Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.0 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (22.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 22nd percentile — 22.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-55225: held from 0.003 to 0.003.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-55225?
CVE-2026-55225 is a high-severity vulnerability in Strimzi Strimzi-Kafka-Operator, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 8.0/10. Published 2026-09-15.
How severe is CVE-2026-55225?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.0 out of 10.