Executive brief
Keycloak is an open-source identity and access management system that organizations use to control user authentication and permissions. A flaw in its administrative API allows delegated administrators with limited permissions to delete users' password credentials, locking those users out of their accounts despite restrictions meant to prevent this action. An attacker with delegated admin access could exploit this to disrupt user access and bypass security controls.
Technical details
The credential deletion endpoint in Keycloak's Admin REST API fails to enforce fine-grained reset-password permissions (CWE-862: Missing Authorization), allowing a high-privileged delegated administrator to delete user password credentials despite lacking the explicit reset-password permission. The vulnerability requires network access and high privilege status as a delegated admin, with no user interaction needed. Successful exploitation results in account lockout and availability/integrity impact.
Affected products
- Keycloak Keycloak
Timeline
- 2026-09-19: disclosed