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GHSA-5q66-v53q-pm35 CVE-2023-4918

Keycloak vulnerable to Plaintext Storage of User Password

High Maven
Severity
8.8 / 10
High · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS)
0.57%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 47.39% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-256 Plaintext Storage of a Password
CWE-319 Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information
Fix
22.0.3
Upgrade org.keycloak:keycloak-core to this version or later

Description

A flaw was discovered in Keycloak Core package. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular attributes in the users attributes. The password is also created, but the user attributes must not be there. This way, any entities (all users and clients with proper rights/roles) are able to retrieve the users passwords in clear-text.

Impact

Passwords for self-registered users are stored as cleartext attributes associated with the user.

Mitigation

Disable self-registration for users in all realms until patched.

Affected versions

Maven

PackageVulnerableFixed in
org.keycloak:keycloak-core
>= 22.0.2, < 22.0.3
22.0.3

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

org.keycloak:keycloak-core Maven → 22.0.3

maven
<dependency><groupId>org.keycloak</groupId><artifactId>keycloak-core</artifactId><version>22.0.3</version></dependency>
gradle
implementation("org.keycloak:keycloak-core:22.0.3")

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 8.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Weakness

CWE-256: Plaintext Storage of a Password

The product stores a password in plaintext within resources such as memory or files.

How to prevent it
  • Architecture and Design: Avoid storing passwords in easily accessible locations.
  • Architecture and Design: Consider storing cryptographic hashes of passwords as an alternative to storing in plaintext.
  • A programmer might attempt to remedy the password management problem by obscuring the password with an encoding function, such as base 64 encoding, but this effort does not adequately protect the password because the encoding can be detected and decoded easily.

CWE-319: Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information

The product transmits sensitive or security-critical data in cleartext in a communication channel that can be sniffed by unauthorized actors.

How to prevent it
  • Architecture and Design: Before transmitting, encrypt the data using reliable, confidentiality-protecting cryptographic protocols.
  • Implementation: When using web applications with SSL, use SSL for the entire session from login to logout, not just for the initial login page.
  • Implementation: When designing hardware platforms, ensure that approved encryption algorithms (such as those recommended by NIST) protect paths from security critical data to trusted user applications.
  • Testing: Use tools and techniques that require manual (human) analysis, such as penetration testing, threat modeling, and interactive tools that allow the tester to record and modify an active session. These may be more effective than strictly automated techniques. This is especially the case with weaknesses that are related to design and business rules.
  • Operation: Configure servers to use encrypted channels for communication, which may include SSL or other secure protocols.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-q4xq-445g-g6ch
Keycloak allows cross-site scripting (XSS)
Low Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
GHSA-93ww-43rr-79v3
Keycloak mTLS Authentication Bypass via Reverse Proxy TLS Termination
High Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
GHSA-w97f-w3hq-36g2
Keycloak Denial of Service vulnerability
High Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
GHSA-xmmm-jw76-q7vg
Keycloaks's One Time Passcode (OTP) is valid longer than expiration timeSeverity
Medium Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
GHSA-g4gc-rh26-m3p5
Keycloak Open Redirect vulnerability
Medium Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
GHSA-9vm7-v8wj-3fqw
keycloak-core: open redirect via "form_post.jwt" JARM response mode
Medium Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
GHSA-5cc8-pgp5-7mpm
Keycloak Untrusted Certificate Validation vulnerability
Medium Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
GHSA-c7xw-p58w-h6fj
Keycloak: Impersonation and lockout possible through incorrect handling of email trust
Medium Also affects org.keycloak:keycloak-core
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