CVE-2026-9087
Description
A flaw was found in Keycloak. The cross-session verification proof is keyed only by (local userId, idpAlias) and is not bound to the upstream identity that was actually verified, so a second upstream account on the same IdP can consume it and get linked to the victim's local account.
Statement
Important: A flaw in Keycloak's cross-session email verification allows an attacker to gain persistent access to a victim's local account. This occurs when an attacker controls an upstream identity provider account sharing an email with the victim, and the victim is actively linking their account while email verification is enabled and the identity provider is configured with trustEmail=false. The attacker can then consume the verification proof, linking their account to the victim's.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, configure the affected identity provider to set `trustEmail=true`. This ensures that Keycloak trusts the email address provided by the upstream identity provider, bypassing the vulnerable verification flow. This mitigation should only be applied if the upstream identity provider is fully trusted to verify email addresses and prevent malicious account creation with existing email addresses. Configuration changes may require a Keycloak service restart or reload to take effect.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 6.4 | 8.1 | 6.4 |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | High |
| Privileges Required | Low | None | Low |
| User Interaction | Required | Required | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | High | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | High | High |
| Availability Impact | None | None | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Access Control
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
Access control checks for specific user data or functionality can be bypassed.
Access Control
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Horizontal escalation of privilege is possible (one user can view/modify information of another user).
Access Control
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Vertical escalation of privilege is possible if the user-controlled key is actually a flag that indicates administrator status, allowing the attacker to gain administrative access.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Emilio Galle for reporting this issue.
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