GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in org.keycloak:keycloak-services. A fix is available for org.keycloak:keycloak-services — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Keycloak Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Admin Console (FGAPv2 Enabled)
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w.
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
GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w 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 vulnerability was identified in the Keycloak identity and access management solution, specifically when FGAPv2 is enabled in version 26.2.x. The flaw lies in the admin permission enforcement logic, where a user with manage-users privileges can self-assign realm-admin rights. The escalation occurs due to missing privilege boundary checks in role mapping operations via the admin REST interface. A malicious administrator with limited permissions can exploit this by editing their own user roles, gaining unauthorized full access to realm configuration and user data.
This issue has been fixed in versions 26.2.6, and 26.3.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.keycloak:keycloak-services | ≥ 26.2.0&&< 26.2.6 | 26.2.6org.keycloak:keycloak-services:26.2.6 |
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 26.2.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w 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 GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w. 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 Red Hat Product Security team has assessed the severity of this vulnerability as Moderate. While the flaw requires an already privileged user, with manage-users, and an FGAPv2-enabled realm, successful exploitation allows complete administrative takeover of a Keycloak realm. This could lead to unauthorized changes…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 26 | keycloak-services | RHSA-2025:12015 |
| Red Hat build of Keycloak 26.2 | rhbk/keycloak-operator-bundle:26.2.6-1 | RHSA-2025:12016 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-27gp-8389-hm4w across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.