---
id: CVE-2026-77968
title: A flaw was found in hawtio-operator
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in hawtio-operator. The operator's ClusterRole grants
  secrets: [create, get, list, update, watch] across all namespaces. While the
  operator uses a controller-runtime label-selector cache as a memory
  optimization, the Ser…
severity: high
cvss: 8.2
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-269
vendor: Red Hat
product: rhbac-4/hawtio-operator-bundle
affected:
  - rhbac-4/hawtio-operator-bundle (all versions)
  - rhbac-4/hawtio-rhel9 (all versions)
published: '2026-09-08'
updated: '2026-09-08'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-08T19:08:15.590'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-77968'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-77968'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2524896'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-77968.json
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-77968'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-77968'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:66120'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-09-08T14:05:09.115190Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-08T15:33:26.983Z'
epss: 0.00248
epssPercentile: 0.16435
patched:
  - build_of_apache_camel_hawtio_4_4_for_rhel 9
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in hawtio-operator. The operator's ClusterRole grants secrets: [create, get, list, update, watch] across all namespaces. While the operator uses a controller-runtime label-selector cache as a memory optimization, the ServiceAccount token authorizes read access to every Secret in the cluster. The operator also bypasses the cache via direct API calls. Compromise of the operator pod would yield read access to every Secret in the cluster, including bootstrap tokens, cloud credentials, and other operators' secrets.

## Remediation

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

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Red Hat build of Apache Camel - HawtIO 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat build of Apache Camel - HawtIO 4 · updated 2026-09-10 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-77968.json)
- **RHSA-2026:66120** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat Build of Apache Camel HawtIO 4.4 for RHEL 9 · released 2026-09-09 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:66120)