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Red Hat Keycloak EUVDEUVD-2026-45225

| CVE-2026-16103 MEDIUM
Improper Enforcement of Behavioral Workflow (CWE-841)
2026-07-17 redhat GHSA-v7m3-vpqr-6m6p
4.3
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: redhat
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Register or compromise OAuth client credentials
  2. Delivery
    Initiate CIBA auth request targeting locked-out victim
  3. Exploit
    Victim user approves back-channel authentication prompt
  4. Execution
    Trigger or await victim account brute-force lockout
  5. Persist
    Submit approved auth_req_id to token redemption endpoint
  6. Impact
    Receive access and refresh tokens for locked account

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Workflow enforcement
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires three concurrent conditions: (1) the attacker must possess valid OAuth client credentials (client_id and client_secret) for a client registered in the target Keycloak realm - these are application-level secrets, not user passwords; (2) the target user account must have an active, user-approved CIBA authentication request that was initiated before the account became locked - this means the user must have actively approved the back-channel authentication prompt; and (3) the user account must subsequently enter a locked state due to brute-force protection before the attacker redeems the auth_req_id at the token endpoint. Exploitation is limited by: requirement for valid OAuth client credentials (not anonymous); dependency on user interaction to approve the CIBA request (UI:R); dependency on a race window between CIBA approval and account lockout; and the CIBA flow must be enabled and in use on the affected Keycloak instance - organizations not using CIBA are not affected.

Impact

The real-world risk is moderate and scenario-constrained. The CVSS vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R reflects a network-exploitable path with low complexity, but the PR:N designation warrants scrutiny: exploitation requires valid OAuth client credentials, which are application-level secrets, not user-level credentials - this is closer to PR:L in practice. The UI:R requirement is load-bearing: the legitimate target user must actively approve the CIBA authentication request before the lockout occurs, making this a race-condition style attack dependent on external user behavior. The C:L impact is accurate - only access and refresh tokens for a single locked account are disclosed, with no integrity or availability consequence. No EPSS data was provided in the intelligence feed; given the specificity of conditions required (valid client credentials, pending CIBA approval, user locked mid-flow), opportunistic or automated exploitation at scale is unlikely. The CVE is not in the CISA KEV catalog, and no POC exists per available data. This is a genuine but situationally limited security gap - organizations where CIBA is actively used alongside brute-force lockout policies face elevated real-world risk compared to those not using CIBA. The absence of CWE assignment and exact fix version data from the references reduces confidence in scope determination.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who controls a registered OAuth client in the Keycloak realm initiates a CIBA authentication request for a targeted user account and waits for the user to approve the push notification or out-of-band prompt - which the user does, believing it to be a legitimate sign-in. If the target user's account is then locked by brute-force protection (whether triggered by the attacker on a separate channel or by prior failed attempts), the attacker can still call the CIBA token redemption endpoint with the approved auth_req_id and receive valid access and refresh tokens, effectively bypassing the lockout mechanism. No public POC has been identified, but the exploitation technique is mechanically straightforward for any party already possessing valid client credentials.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Jul 17, 2026

Brute-force lockout bypass in Keycloak's Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication (CIBA) flow allows an attacker holding valid OAuth client credentials to redeem previously approved authentication requests and obtain access and refresh tokens for a user account that has since been locked. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-9798: the brute-force protection check was applied to the CIBA initiation handler but was never added to the token redemption handler, creating a gap that persists after the earlier patch. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, and this CVE is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

RemediationAI

Patch availability has not been confirmed with an exact fix version from the available references; a Red Hat vendor advisory exists at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-16103 and should be checked for updated package versions. Until a patch is applied, organizations using the CIBA flow should consider disabling Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication entirely in Keycloak if not operationally required (this can be done per-realm by disabling the CIBA grant type on registered clients), as this eliminates the vulnerable code path with the trade-off of losing decoupled authentication for those clients. If CIBA must remain active, enforce short-lived auth_req_id expiration windows and monitor token endpoint logs for redemption attempts tied to accounts under lockout. Administrators should also ensure brute-force lockout thresholds are conservative and that account unlock procedures require re-authentication, limiting the window an approved CIBA request remains redeemable. Track Red Hat Bugzilla #2501736 for patch availability.

Affects your stack

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Technical ContextAI · show details

The vulnerability resides in the keycloak-services component that implements the CIBA (Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication) flow, an OAuth 2.0 extension (OpenID Connect CIBA profile) enabling decoupled authentication where a client application requests authentication on behalf of a user via a back channel and the user approves the request through a separate device or channel. The affected products confirmed by CPE data are: Red Hat Build of Keycloak, Red Hat Data Grid 8, Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack, and Red Hat Single Sign-On 7. The root cause is a missing authorization check - specifically, brute-force lockout status is not evaluated at the token redemption endpoint (/token endpoint with grant_type=urn:openid:params:grant-type:ciba), allowing an already-authorized auth_req_id to be exchanged for tokens even when the associated user account is locked. No CWE was assigned by the reporter, but this maps conceptually to CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization) due to the incomplete enforcement of access control policy across all relevant code paths.

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Severity by source

Vendor (redhat) PRIMARY 4.3 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
vuln.today AI 2.6 LOW

OAuth client credentials required (PR:L); specific race-condition timing between CIBA approval and account lockout raises complexity (AC:H); only token confidentiality disclosed (C:L).

3.1 AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Red Hat 4.3 MEDIUM

Primary rating from Vendor (redhat).

CVSS VectorVendor: redhat

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

A flaw was found in the keycloak-services component of Keycloak. This issue is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-9798, where brute-force protection checks were added to the Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication (CIBA) initiation handler but were omitted from the token redemption handler. This allows an attacker with valid client credentials to obtain access and refresh tokens for a user account that has been locked due to brute-force protection, provided the authentication request was started before the lockout occurred and was approved by the user.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 89% exploitable
Prevalence
Medium
popular enterprise IAM/SSO platform, common in Red Hat and cloud-native deployments
Data Quality
7 sources
Confidence: High
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor VulDB

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

22
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +22
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_keycloak:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_keycloak:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_keycloak:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_data_grid_8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_jboss_enterprise_application_platform_expansion_pack:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_single_sign-on_7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2026-18963 CRITICAL POC
9.1 Aug 18

Account takeover in Red Hat Build of Keycloak allows an unauthenticated attacker to abuse the reset-credentials flow in

CVE-2026-16442 CRITICAL
9.8 Aug 05

Account takeover in Keycloak (Red Hat build of Keycloak, Red Hat Single Sign-On 7) arises because the IdP-initiated SAML

CVE-2026-16443 CRITICAL
9.1 Aug 05

Authentication bypass in Red Hat Build of Keycloak (and Red Hat Single Sign-On 7) lets an unauthenticated attacker forge

CVE-2026-15572 HIGH
8.8 Aug 05

Privilege escalation in Red Hat Build of Keycloak's Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) grants an attacker with low-privil

CVE-2026-93569 HIGH
8.2 Sep 18

Mismatched handling of the HTTP/1 absolute-form request authority in Red Hat build of Quarkus and other affected Red Hat

CVE-2026-9800 HIGH
8.1 Jun 25

Authorization bypass in the Keycloak Policy Enforcer allows any authenticated user to circumvent all enforced access con

CVE-2026-15573 HIGH
8.1 Aug 05

URI normalization bypass in Keycloak's Authorization Services PathMatcher allows authenticated low-privilege users to re

CVE-2026-16102 HIGH
8.1 Aug 05

Privilege escalation in Keycloak's Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) component allows attackers with standard user accou

CVE-2026-18214 HIGH
8.1 Jul 31

Token exchange in Keycloak bypasses Google Workspace domain allowlist restrictions, enabling any valid Google account ho

CVE-2026-11800 HIGH
8.1 Jun 25

Signature-verification bypass in Keycloak (and Red Hat's Keycloak-based products such as Red Hat Single Sign-On 7 and Re

CVE-2026-18215 HIGH
8.1 Jul 31

Tenant-restriction bypass in Keycloak's Microsoft identity provider integration allows attackers holding any valid Micro

CVE-2026-18967 HIGH
8.1 Aug 06

Session hijacking via SAML assertion replay in Keycloak's SAML broker component allows adjacent-network attackers to aut

Vendor StatusVendor

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