CVE-2026-96447
Description
A flaw was found in the TokenManager component of Keycloak, an open-source identity and access management solution. The issue occurs during the validation of stateless access tokens when the original user ID no longer exists. Keycloak incorrectly falls back to using the username to identify the user without verifying if the identity matches the original token subject. This could allow an attacker with an old token to gain access to a newly created service account if it shares the same client ID as a previously deleted one.
Statement
The Red Hat Product Security team has assessed the severity of this vulnerability as Moderate, given that exploitation requires an administrator to delete and recreate a client with the same ID while an attacker holds a valid stateless token from the original client. Successful exploitation allows an attacker to gain the identity and permissions of the replacement service account. The vulnerability's root cause is an improper fallback to username-based resolution in stateless token validation without verifying the binding to the original token subject.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
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 | 4.2 | N/A | 4.2 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | High |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | N/A | Low |
| Integrity Impact | Low | N/A | Low |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control
Technical Impact: Read Application Data; Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
This weakness can lead to the exposure of resources or functionality to unintended actors, possibly providing attackers with sensitive information or even execute arbitrary code.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Bruno Oliveira of IBM in collaboration with OpenAI for reporting this issue.
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