---
id: CVE-2026-105312
title: >-
  Console-operator: streams for apache kafka console: tenant-controlled
  container image on clusterrole-bound pod enables namespace-to-cluster
  privilege escalation
summary: >-
  A Kubernetes tenant with create permission on Console custom resources can set
  spec.containers.api.spec.image to an arbitrary container image. The operator
  deploys this image into a pod whose ServiceAccount is bound via
  ClusterRoleBindin…
severity: critical
cvss: 9.9
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-269
vendor: Red Hat
product: console
affected:
  - console >= 0.2.0 < 0.12.10
  - console >= 0.13.0 < 0.14.2
  - console-operator (all versions)
  - console-operator (all versions)
published: '2026-10-20'
updated: '2026-10-20'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-20T11:30:20.850Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-105312'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-105312'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2510863'
    label: RHBZ#2510863
tags:
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-10-20T12:05:07.318Z'
---

## Overview

A Kubernetes tenant with create permission on Console custom resources can set spec.containers.api.spec.image to an arbitrary container image. The operator deploys this image into a pod whose ServiceAccount is bound via ClusterRoleBinding to a ClusterRole granting cluster-wide get/list/watch on all Strimzi CRDs (including KafkaUsers), patch on Kafkas/KafkaRebalances, and cluster-monitoring-view. The attacker's code reads the projected SA token and gains cross-tenant Strimzi control-plane read+write access.

## Affected

- `console >= 0.2.0 < 0.12.10`
- `console >= 0.13.0 < 0.14.2`
- `console-operator (all versions)`
- `console-operator (all versions)`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

### Workarounds

1. Restrict Console CR RBAC — remove create/update/patch verbs on consoles.console.streamshub.github.com from tenant-level Roles. Only cluster administrators should manage Console CRs.
2. Deploy admission webhook — use OPA/Gatekeeper or Kyverno policy to validate spec.containers.api.spec.image against a trusted registry allowlist.
3. Apply network policies — restrict console-api pod egress to only required endpoints.
4. Single-tenant deployment — deploy the Console operator where only trusted administrators manage Console CRs.