CVE-2022-2256 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.keycloak:keycloak-parent. A fix is available for org.keycloak:keycloak-parent — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Keycloak vulnerable to Stored Cross site Scripting (XSS) when loading default roles
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-2022-2256 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 377,636 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-parentReal-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 Stored XSS vulnerability was reported in the Keycloak Security mailing list, affecting all the versions of Keycloak, including the latest release (18.0.1). The vulnerability allows a privileged attacker to execute malicious scripts in the admin console, abusing of the default roles functionality.
CVSS 3.1 - 3.8
Vector String: AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Vector Clarification:
- User interaction is not required as the admin console is regularly used during an administrator's work
- The scope is unchanged since the admin console web application is both the vulnerable component and where the exploit executes
Credits
Aytaç Kalıncı, Ilker Bulgurcu, Yasin Yılmaz (@aytackalinci, @smileronin, @yasinyilmaz) - NETAŞ PENTEST TEAM
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.keycloak:keycloak-parent | all versions | 19.0.2org.keycloak:keycloak-parent:19.0.2 |
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-parent, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.keycloak:keycloak-parent to 19.0.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-2256 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-2022-2256 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-2256. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7 | rh-sso7-keycloak | RHSA-2022:6787 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.5 for RHEL 7 | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:15.0.8-1.redhat_00001.1.el7sso | RHSA-2022:6782 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.5 for RHEL 8 | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:15.0.8-1.redhat_00001.1.el8sso | RHSA-2022:6783 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-2256 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-2256 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.