Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2026-1609: Keycloak improper access control for disabled users in JWT authorization grant

CVE-2026-1609 · Severity: high · CVSS 8.1 · Published 2026-07-16

Executive brief

Keycloak is an open-source identity and access management solution used to secure modern applications and services. A security flaw was identified where the system fails to check if a user account has been disabled when using a specific login feature (JWT authorization grant). This allows a person with a disabled account to still log in and access sensitive corporate data or restricted resources by using a valid credential from an external identity provider.

Technical details

An improper access control vulnerability exists in Keycloak when the '--features jwt-authorization-grant' preview feature is enabled. The root cause is a failure to validate the 'enabled' status of a user account during the processing of a JWT authorization grant. A remote attacker with low privileges can present a valid assertion token from an external identity provider to obtain a new JWT for a disabled user account. This allows the attacker to bypass account suspension and access protected endpoints. The issue is fixed in Keycloak version 26.5.3.

Affected products

  • Keycloak Keycloak 26.5.0 to 26.5.2
  • Red Hat Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 8 Affected
  • Red Hat Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack Affected

Timeline

  • 2026-01-29: disclosed: Initial bug report in Red Hat Bugzilla
  • 2026-02-10: patched: Fixed in Keycloak version 26.5.3
  • 2026-07-16: advisory: NVD publication date

References

Related threats