Summary
Keycloak vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting
A flaw was found in Keycloak. Under specific circumstances, HTML entities are not sanitized during user impersonation, resulting in a Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability.
Details
This issue is the result of code found in the exception here: https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/blob/48835576daa158443f69917ac309e1a7c951bc87/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/authentication/AuthenticationProcessor.java#L1045
Steps to reproduce
When using the legacy admin console:
- Sign in as Admin user in first tab.
- In that tab create new user in keycloak admin section > intercept user creation request and modify it by including malicious js script there (in username field).
- Sign in as newly created user in second tab (same browser window but second tab).
- Navigate back to first tab where you are signed in as admin, navigate to admin console which lists all application users.
- Choose any user (except newly created malicious one), modify anything for that user in his settings. E.g. navigate to credentials tab and set new credentials for him. Also set new password as temporary.
- After update for that user is made, use impersonate option on that modified user.
- You should see window with form which requires providing new credentials, fill it and submit request.
- Just after submiting request user will get notified that “You are already authenticated as different user ‘[user + payload]’ in this session. Please sign out first.” And malicious payload will be executed instantly.
Impact
Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session. Typical impact: session or credential theft, and actions taken as the user.
CVE-2022-1438 has a CVSS score of 6.4 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, high privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
In the interim: Validate and encode untrusted input before rendering it as HTML. Applying a Content Security Policy reduces the impact if encoding is bypassed.
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2022-1438? CVE-2022-1438 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.keycloak:keycloak-services (maven), affecting versions <= 21.0.0. No fixed version is listed yet. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
- How severe is CVE-2022-1438? CVE-2022-1438 has a CVSS score of 6.4 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of org.keycloak:keycloak-services are affected by CVE-2022-1438? org.keycloak:keycloak-services (maven) versions <= 21.0.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2022-1438? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2022-1438 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2022-1438 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-1438 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2022-1438 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2022-1438? No fixed version is listed yet. In the interim: Validate and encode untrusted input before rendering it as HTML. Applying a Content Security Policy reduces the impact if encoding is bypassed.