A flaw was found in Keycloak. This issue occurs because sensitive runtime values, such as passwords, may be captured during the Keycloak build process and embedded as default values in bytecode, leading to unintended information disclosure. In Keycloak 26, sensitive data specified directly in environment variables during the build process is also stored as a default values, making it accessible during runtime. Indirect usage of environment variables for SPI options and Quarkus properties is also vulnerable due to unconditional expansion by PropertyMapper logic, capturing sensitive data as default values in all Keycloak versions up to 26.0.2.
The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 24 | RedHat | rhbk/keycloak-operator-bundle:24.0.9-1 | * |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 24 | RedHat | rhbk/keycloak-rhel9:24-18 | * |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 24 | RedHat | rhbk/keycloak-rhel9-operator:24-18 | * |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 24.0.9 | RedHat | org.keycloak/keycloak-quarkus-server | * |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 26.0 | RedHat | rhbk/keycloak-operator-bundle:26.0.6-2 | * |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 26.0 | RedHat | rhbk/keycloak-rhel9:26.0-5 | * |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 26.0 | RedHat | rhbk/keycloak-rhel9-operator:26.0-6 | * |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 26.0.6 | RedHat | org.keycloak/keycloak-quarkus-server | * |
Hard-coded credentials typically create a significant hole that allows an attacker to bypass the authentication that has been configured by the product administrator. This hole might be difficult for the system administrator to detect. Even if detected, it can be difficult to fix, so the administrator may be forced into disabling the product entirely. There are two main variations:
In the Inbound variant, a default administration account is created, and a simple password is hard-coded into the product and associated with that account. This hard-coded password is the same for each installation of the product, and it usually cannot be changed or disabled by system administrators without manually modifying the program, or otherwise patching the product. If the password is ever discovered or published (a common occurrence on the Internet), then anybody with knowledge of this password can access the product. Finally, since all installations of the product will have the same password, even across different organizations, this enables massive attacks such as worms to take place. The Outbound variant applies to front-end systems that authenticate with a back-end service. The back-end service may require a fixed password which can be easily discovered. The programmer may simply hard-code those back-end credentials into the front-end product. Any user of that program may be able to extract the password. Client-side systems with hard-coded passwords pose even more of a threat, since the extraction of a password from a binary is usually very simple.