Executive brief
hawtio-operator is a Kubernetes operator used to manage Hawtio web console instances in OpenShift. A flaw allows namespace users to bypass hostname restrictions by exploiting the operator as an intermediary, enabling them to claim arbitrary externally-routable hostnames and potentially hijack subdomains or OAuth redirect flows. This can lead to service disruption, credential theft, or unauthorized access to web services.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a confused deputy attack (CWE-441) in hawtio-operator. The operator holds cluster-wide routes/custom-host:create permission and reconciles the spec.routeHostName field from Hawtio custom resources directly into OpenShift Route objects without validating authorization or verifying that the requesting namespace is permitted to claim the specified hostname. A user with permission to edit or create Hawtio CRs in their namespace can set an arbitrary hostname value belonging to another tenant or external domain, bypassing normal Route hostname restrictions. This enables subdomain takeover and, when chained with auto-grant OAuthClient features, OAuth token theft via redirect manipulation. Attack vector is network with low complexity, requiring low privileges and user interaction. Mitigation includes RBAC restrictions on Hawtio CR creation/modification and router admission policies to reject unauthorized hostnames.
Affected products
- Red Hat hawtio-operator <UNKNOWN>
Timeline
- 2026-09-15: disclosed
- 2026-09-15: advisory