Console-operator: streams for apache kafka console: cross-namespace kafkauser secret exfiltration via confused deputy

Overview

The StreamsHub Console operator acts as a confused deputy: a Kubernetes tenant with permission to create a Console custom resource can set spec.kafkaClusters[].credentials.kafkaUser.namespace to any namespace. The operator, running with cluster-wide Secrets RBAC, reads the victim-namespace KafkaUser Secret (SASL credentials or TLS private keys) and writes the plaintext material into a Secret in the attacker's namespace. No same-namespace check or allowlist exists anywhere in the code path.

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 verbs on consoles.console.streamshub.github.com from tenant-facing roles. Only trusted cluster administrators should manage Console CRs.
2. Audit existing Console CRs — review all Console CRs for kafkaUser.namespace fields pointing outside the CR's own namespace.
3. Network policy (defense-in-depth) — apply NetworkPolicy to restrict operator pod egress.

--- CME Mitigation Guidance (2026-10-20) --- Disclaimer: The following mitigation solutions are provided as a courtesy, pending the application of an official patch. This content was generated utilizing AI tools in conjunction with data from https://cmetaxonomy.org. Customers are advised to independently evaluate and test these temporary mitigations within their own infrastructure.

The highest-value action is to enforce strict same-namespace boundary validation on KafkaUser credentials namespace references in Console Operator custom resources to prevent cross-namespace Secret reads: upgrade to the fixed Console Operator builds, which enforce an assertNamespaceAllowed() guard with a same-namespace default check when reading KafkaUser namespace configuration, closing all 2 injection vectors (Console custom resource namespace manipulation, cross-namespace Secret reference). Until patched, this is a concern on Kubernetes clusters running Console Operator where non-admin users have create or update permissions on Console custom resources, so Remove create and update permissions on Console custom resources from tenant roles and audit existing custom resources for kafkaUser.namespace values pointing outside their own namespace. As a compensating measure, Configure Kubernetes API server audit logging to record Console custom resource modifications and cross-namespace Secret read operations performed by the operator service account. These controls limit blast radius and contain exploitation, but they do not fix the underlying confused deputy cross-namespace access defect — apply the upstream patch to fully remediate.

Highest-impact CME: CME-711 Admission Controller Policy Enforcement (OPA/Gatekeeper/Kyverno) (high)