CVE-2026-3121
Redhat Build Of Keycloak
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-3121 is a medium-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266) vulnerability in Redhat Build Of Keycloak. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Valid Accounts (T1078); ranked at the 39th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-6 (Least Privilege) and AC-2 (Account Management) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-3121 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in Keycloak, published on 2026-03-26. The flaw arises from a misconfiguration where an administrator with the `manage-clients` permission is treated as equivalent to having `manage-permissions` when admin permissions are enabled at the realm level. This allows the administrator to escalate privileges and gain control over roles, users, or other administrative functions within the realm. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) and is associated with CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment.
The attack requires high privileges (PR:H), specifically an authenticated administrator with `manage-clients` permission in a Keycloak realm where admin permissions are enabled. Exploitation occurs over the network with low complexity and no user interaction, enabling the attacker to achieve high confidentiality and integrity impacts by escalating to broader administrative controls, such as managing roles, users, and other realm functions.
Red Hat has issued security errata RHSA-2026:6477 and RHSA-2026:6478 to address this issue in affected Keycloak versions. Further details on the vulnerability, including mitigation and patching instructions, are available on the Red Hat CVE page at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-3121 and the associated Bugzilla entry at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2442277.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-16307
Vulnerability Data
A flaw was found in Keycloak. An administrator with `manage-clients` permission can exploit a misconfiguration where this permission is equivalent to `manage-permissions`. This allows the administrator to escalate privileges and gain control over roles, users, or other administrative functions within…
more
the realm. This privilege escalation can occur when admin permissions are enabled at the realm level.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 8 hardening rules · 6 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Least privilege directly requires that only the minimal necessary privileges are assigned to each actor.
Account management defines and authorizes the exact privileges granted to each account or role.
Enforces only the authorizations that were assigned, so correct assignment is a prerequisite.
Separation of duties constrains which privilege combinations may be assigned to any actor.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Directly enforces least-privilege policy definition, management, and review that prevents incorrect privilege assignments.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
The access-rights control governs the entire lifecycle of privilege assignment, directly eliminating incorrect assignments.
Privileged-access-rights control explicitly requires least-privilege assignment and ongoing validation, directly mitigating CWE-266.
Access control policy directly prevents incorrect privilege assignment by defining who may receive which rights.
Segregation of duties reduces blast radius of any single incorrect privilege but does not prevent the assignment itself.
Restricting privileged utility programs limits exposure from over-privileged accounts but does not address how privileges are assigned.
Information-access-restriction mechanisms enforce the correct privilege boundaries once assignment rules are defined.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248551 A sticky bit must be set on all OL 8 public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
- V-271779 OL 9 must be configured so that a sticky bit must be set on all public directories. prevents CWE-266
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230243 A sticky bit must be set on all RHEL 8 public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
- V-257929 A sticky bit must be set on all RHEL 9 public directories. prevents CWE-266
Ubuntu 22.04 (2 rules)
- V-260513 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must set a sticky bit on all public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
- V-260559 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-266
Ubuntu 24.04 (2 rules)
- V-270748 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-266
- V-270750 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must set a sticky bit on all public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266