How severe is CVE-2026-55226?

CVE-2026-55226 has a CVSS score of 5.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2026-55226?

CVE-2026-55226 affects the following packages: io.strimzi:strimzi (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2026-55226?

Update io.strimzi:strimzi to 1.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-55226 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2026-55226 in my Maven dependencies?

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.

How do I mitigate CVE-2026-55226 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Is CVE-2026-55226 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2026-55226 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2026-55226?

CVE-2026-55226 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.3%, placing it in the 15th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2026-55226?

CVE-2026-55226 is classified as Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269), CWE-272 (CWE-272). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2026-55226 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2026-55226 was published on September 15, 2026 and was last updated on October 20, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2026-55226 — strimzi

MEDIUMFix: strimzi/strimzi-kafka-operator@b3bfeff

CVE-2026-55226 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in io.strimzi:strimzi. A fix is available for io.strimzi:strimzi — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Strimzi: Unrestricted access to all Secrets within namespace watched by the Topic operator

Also known asGHSA-r427-j2h7-wv3m

Published

Sep 15, 2026

Updated

Oct 20, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 21, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

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-2026-55226.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs15th percentile — riskier than 15% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2026-55226 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

☕io.strimzi:strimzi

Real-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

When only the Topic or only the User operators are deployed as part of the Entity Operator in the Kafka custom resource, the RBAC rights are not following the principle of least-privilege and the Entity Operator ServiceAccount still has access rights corresponding to both operators. That might allow the ServiceAccount to access KafkaUser custom resources and Secrets when the User operator is not deployed and access KafkaTopic custom resources when the Topic operator is not deployed.

Patches

The issue is fixed in Strimzi 1.0.1 and 1.1.0.

Workarounds

There is no workaround for this issue.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`io.strimzi:strimzi`	all versions	1.0.1`io.strimzi:strimzi:1.0.1`

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
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 1.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-55226 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact When only the Topic or only the User operators are deployed as part of the Entity Operator in the `Kafka` custom resource, the RBAC rights are not following the principle of least-privilege and the Entity Operator ServiceAccount still has access rights corresponding to both operators. That might allow the ServiceAccount to access `KafkaUser` custom resources and Secrets when the User operator is not deployed and access `KafkaTopic` custom resources when the Topic operator is not deployed. ### Patches The issue is fixed in Strimzi 1.0.1 and 1.1.0. ### Workarounds There is no wor