CVE-2026-9796 Keycloak: keycloak: privilege escalation via time-of-check to time-of-use (toctou) vulnerability
An authenticated administrator can exploit a race condition to escalate privileges to realm-admin, gaining extensive control over the Keycloak system.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-9796?
CVE-2026-9796 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Build of Keycloak, published on 28 May 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A flaw was found in Keycloak. An authenticated administrator with the `manage-clients` role can exploit a Time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability in the name-based admin role checks. This allows the attacker to escalate their privileges to `realm-admin` for all users within the realm, granting them extensive control over the system. The composite role relationship persists even after the attacker's own permissions are revoked and across system reboots.
Weakness: CWE-367
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-9796?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.keycloak:keycloak-server. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.keycloak:keycloak-server Maven | All versions | 26.6.4 |
org.keycloak:keycloak-server Maven | All versions | 26.6.4 |
Products include Redhat Build of Keycloak.
How do I fix CVE-2026-9796?
Upgrade org.keycloak:keycloak-server to 26.6.4 or later.
Is CVE-2026-9796 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-9796 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Build of Keycloak
- CVE-2026-15572 Keycloak-services: keycloak-services: dcr protocol mapper type-swap policy bypass allows privilege escalation
- CVE-2026-3047 Keycloak SAML Broken has Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness
- CVE-2026-15573 Keycloak-services: keycloak-services: authorization bypass via unnormalized uri matching in pathmatcher
- CVE-2026-16102 Keycloak-services: keycloak-services: default dcr policy allows role forgery via user property mappers
- CVE-2026-1609 Org.keycloak/keycloak-quarkus-server: keycloak: unauthorized access via jwt authorization grant with disabled users
Sources
Also known as GHSA-pq65-77rc-7r8c.