# CVE-2026-16072: Keycloak-services: keycloak-services: organization invitation link exposure allows unauthorized member creation

> Delegated administrators can bypass user management restrictions to create unauthorized accounts and add them to organizations via exposed invitation links.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 17 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** BIT-keycloak-2026-16072, CLEANSTART-2026-EF95480, GHSA-mp76-m6c2-jqh5

## What is CVE-2026-16072?

CVE-2026-16072 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Redhat Build of Keycloak, published on 17 Jul 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in the organization management component of Keycloak. A delegated administrator with permission to manage organizations can create an invitation for a non-existent email address and then retrieve the secret registration link directly through the application programming interface. By using this link, the administrator can create new user accounts and add them to the organization without having the required user management permissions or access to the invited email account. This allows an administrator to bypass security boundaries and add unauthorized members to an organization.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control), CWE-497 (Exposure of Sensitive System Information to an Unauthorized Control Sphere)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16072?

1 open source package ship an affected version, including keycloak. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `keycloak` | Bitnami | All versions | 26.7.3 |

Products: Redhat Build of Keycloak.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-16072?

Upgrade keycloak to 26.7.3 or later.

## Is CVE-2026-16072 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16072 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Build of Keycloak

- [CVE-2026-15572](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-15572/): Keycloak-services: keycloak-services: dcr protocol mapper type-swap policy bypass allows privilege escalation (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-3047](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-3047/): Keycloak SAML Broken has Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-15573](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-15573/): Keycloak-services: keycloak-services: authorization bypass via unnormalized uri matching in pathmatcher (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2026-16102](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16102/): Keycloak-services: keycloak-services: default dcr policy allows role forgery via user property mappers (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2026-1609](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-1609/): Org.keycloak/keycloak-quarkus-server: keycloak: unauthorized access via jwt authorization grant with disabled users (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-16072 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-16072 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Redhat Build of Keycloak, published on 17 Jul 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16072 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- keycloak (Bitnami): affected all versions; fixed in 26.7.3

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16072/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16072/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-16072
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16072
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-16072

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16072/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.