CVE-2026-114438 Red Hat CVE debrief

Who should care

Defenders and administrators of Keycloak instances should assess exposure and verify configurations to prevent exploitation. This includes reviewing action sequences in realms, ensuring mandatory multi-factor authentication enrollment, and adjusting configurations as necessary to protect against potential bypass of authentication mechanisms.

Why it matters

Defenders should care about CVE-2026-114438 because it may allow attackers to bypass multi-factor authentication enrollment in Keycloak instances, potentially leading to unauthorized access to accounts with valid passwords. Administrators of Keycloak instances should assess exposure, verify configurations, and adjust the order of actions in realms to enforce mandatory multi-factor authentication enrollment.

• Potential bypass of multi-factor authentication enrollment
• Possible unauthorized access to accounts with valid passwords

Technical summary

The flaw in Keycloak's Update User Locale action may allow an attacker to bypass mandatory multi-factor authentication enrollment when this action is ordered before the Configure OTP action in a realm. This issue arises from the potential misconfiguration of action sequences within Keycloak realms. Technical details are based on official CVE Program and NVD sources, with limitations on source-provided information. Defenders should focus on verifying and adjusting Keycloak configurations to enforce mandatory multi-factor authentication.

Defensive priority

Defenders should prioritize verifying and adjusting the order of actions in Keycloak realms to enforce mandatory multi-factor authentication enrollment.

Recommended defensive actions

• Verify the order of actions in Keycloak realms to ensure Configure OTP action is not ordered after Update User Locale action
• Enforce mandatory multi-factor authentication enrollment during the login process
• Review and adjust Keycloak configurations to prevent exploitation
• Confirm whether affected Keycloak instances exist in managed environments and assign an owner for follow-up
• Plan vendor-supported updates or mitigations through normal change control where exposure is confirmed
• Review compensating controls for exposed systems while remediation is scheduled and verified
• Track exceptions, retest remediated assets, and close the item only after evidence is documented

Evidence notes

The CVE record and NVD entry provide details on the flaw in Keycloak's Update User Locale action. Evidence is based on official CVE Program and NVD sources, with limitations on source-provided information. Defenders should verify Keycloak configurations and action sequences to ensure mandatory multi-factor authentication enrollment is enforced.

Sources and references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.