Privilege escalation in Strimzi Strimzi-Kafka-Operator

CVE-2026-55226

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, deploying only the Topic Operator or only the User Operator through the Kafka custom resource leaves the Entity Operator ServiceAccount with RBAC permissions for both components. The excess permissions can allow access to KafkaUser custom resources and Secrets when the User Operator is absent, or access to KafkaTopic custom resources when the Topic Operator is absent. This issue is fixed in versions 1.0.1 and 1.1.0.

Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation