CVE-2022-1245 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-862 vulnerability in org.keycloak:keycloak-services. A fix is available for org.keycloak:keycloak-services — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Keycloak vulnerable to privilege escalation on Token Exchange feature
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-1245 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.keycloak:keycloak-servicesReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A privilege escalation flaw was found in the token exchange feature of keycloak. Missing authorization allows a client application holding a valid access token to exchange tokens for any target client by passing the client_id of the target. This could allow a client to gain unauthorized access to additional services.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.keycloak:keycloak-services | all versions | 18.0.0org.keycloak:keycloak-services:18.0.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.keycloak:keycloak-services, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.keycloak:keycloak-services to 18.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-1245 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-1245 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-1245. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
The token exchange feature is currently in technology preview and is not fully supported. Please see the documentation for more information on this feature: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_single_sign-on/7.5/html/securing_applications_and_services_guide/token-exchange
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7 | rh-sso7-keycloak | RHSA-2022:1709 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.5 for RHEL 7 | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:15.0.6-1.redhat_00002.1.el7sso | RHSA-2022:1711 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.5 for RHEL 8 | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:15.0.6-1.redhat_00002.1.el8sso | RHSA-2022:1712 |
| RHEL-8 based Middleware Containers | rh-sso-7/sso75-openshift-rhel8:7.5-26 | RHSA-2022:1713 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-1245 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-1245 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.