Is CVE-2026-81303 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-81303 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-81303?

Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.3, published 15 September 2026.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-81303?

No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

How is CVE-2026-81303 attacked?

It is attacked over the network.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-81303?

Check whether you run Red Hat Hawtio-Operator at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-81303: hawtio-operator confused deputy in Route hostname validation

CVE-2026-81303 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.3 · Published 2026-09-15

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.

Technologies: Red Hat Hawtio-Operator. Vendors: Red Hat.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-81303 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-81303 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-81303?: Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.3, published 15 September 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Red Hat Hawtio-Operator <UNKNOWN>.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-81303?: No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.
How is CVE-2026-81303 attacked?: It is attacked over the network.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-81303?: Check whether you run Red Hat Hawtio-Operator at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

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

References

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