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HIGH

Keycloak-saml-core: improper verification of saml responses leading to privilege escalation in keycloak

Published Sep 19, 2024

Description

A flaw exists in the SAML signature validation method within the Keycloak XMLSignatureUtil class. The method incorrectly determines whether a SAML signature is for the full document or only for specific assertions based on the position of the signature in the XML document, rather than the Reference element used to specify the signed element. This flaw allows attackers to create crafted responses that can bypass the validation, potentially leading to privilege escalation or impersonation attacks.

Affected products

Remediation

Vendor solution

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.

Red Hat statement

This vulnerability is of high severity due to its potential to facilitate privilege escalation and user impersonation in systems using SAML for authentication. The core issue stems from improper validation logic in Keycloak's signature validation method, which relies on the position of signatures rather than explicitly checking the referenced elements. By manipulating the XML structure, an attacker can bypass signature validation and inject an unsigned assertion while retaining a valid signed one. This allows unauthorized access to high-privileged accounts, leading to significant security risks in SAML-based identity providers and service providers.

Red Hat mitigation

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.

Weaknesses (1)

CWE-347

References (19)

Change history (0)

No recorded changes yet.

Sources
CVE.org / MITRE
Status PUBLISHED
Assigner redhat
Published Sep 19, 2024
Updated Aug 4, 2026
Reserved Sep 11, 2024
Link CVE-2024-8698
CISA Vulnrichment
Updated Sep 19, 2024
NVD
Status Deferred
Modified Aug 4, 2026
Link CVE-2024-8698
Red Hat
Severity Important
Public date Sep 19, 2024
Links CVE-2024-8698 - Bugzilla
GHSA-XGFV-XPX8-QHCR