CVE-2025-66623 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.4) Information Exposure vulnerability in io.strimzi:strimzi. A fix is available for io.strimzi:strimzi — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Strimzi allows unrestricted access to all Secrets in the same Kubernetes namespace from Kafka Connect and MirrorMaker 2 operands
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-66623.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2025-66623 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,567 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
io.strimzi:strimziReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
In some situations, Strimzi creates an incorrect Kubernetes Role which grants the Apache Kafka Connect and Apache Kafka MirrorMaker 2 operands the GET access to all Kubernetes Secrets that exist in the given Kubernetes namespace. The exact scenario when this happens is when:
- Apache Kafka Connect is deployed without at least one of the following options configured:
- TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates (no
.spec.tls.trustedCertificatessection in theKafkaConnectCR) - mTLS authentication (no
type: tlsin.spec.authenticationsection of theKafkaConnectCR) - TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates for
type: oauthauthentication (no.spec.authentication.tlsTrustedCertificatessection in theKafkaConnectCR)
- TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates (no
- Apache Kafka MirrorMaker2 is deployed without at least one of the following options configured for the target cluster:
- TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates (no
.spec.target.tls.trustedCertificatessection in theKafkaConnectCR) - mTLS authentication (no
type: tlsin.spec.target.authenticationsection of theKafkaConnectCR) - TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates for
type: oauthauthentication (no.spec.target.authentication.tlsTrustedCertificatessection in theKafkaConnectCR) - TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates (no
.spec.clusters[].tls.trustedCertificatessection in theKafkaConnectCR for the target cluster) - mTLS authentication (no
type: tlsin.spec.clusters[].authenticationsection of theKafkaConnectCR for the target cluster) - TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates for
type: oauthauthentication (no.spec.clusters[].authentication.tlsTrustedCertificatessection in theKafkaConnectCR for the target cluster)
- TLS encryption with configured trusted certificates (no
When the operands configured as described above are deployed with Strimzi >= 0.47.0 and <= 0.49.0, any code running within their Pods and using their Service Account for authentication will be able to GET any Kubernetes Secret from the same namespace. This can be done by executing 3rd party tools from the Pods. Or directly from the Kafka Connect code, for example, using configuration providers or HTTP connectors. The Pods are allowed to only GET the Secrets. They are not allowed to list, watch, modify, or delete the Secrets.
Patches
The issue is fixed in Strimzi 0.49.1.
Workarounds
There is no workaround for this issue when using the affected operands with the affected configurations.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | io.strimzi:strimzi | ≥ 0.47.0&&< 0.49.1 | 0.49.1io.strimzi:strimzi:0.49.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for io.strimzi:strimzi, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update io.strimzi:strimzi to 0.49.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-66623 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2025-66623 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2025-66623. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-66623 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2025-66623 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.