CVE-2026-9797
Description
A flaw was found in Keycloak's administrative services (org.keycloak.services.resources.admin). A highly privileged attacker, authenticated with a 'manage-clients' role, could exploit this vulnerability through several methods, including manipulating client JSON Web Key Sets (JWKS), swapping client authenticator types and resetting secrets, or downloading legitimate signing keys. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to obtain a token with 'realm-admin' role assignments, leading to privilege escalation and potential unauthorized access to sensitive resources.
Statement
This Moderate severity flaw in Keycloak allows an authenticated administrator with the manage-clients role to escalate privileges to realm-admin. Exploitation involves manipulating client configurations or credentials, granting broader administrative control within the Keycloak realm.
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).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 6.5 | N/A | 6.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | High | N/A | High |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Access Control
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
A user can access restricted functionality and/or sensitive information that may include administrative functionality and user accounts.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Andrej Tomci for reporting this issue.
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