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KeycloakApplication · Redhat

CVE-2020-1728

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.0 or later.
See remediation →
61/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A vulnerability was found in all versions of Keycloak where, the pages on the Admin Console area of the application are completely missing general HTTP security headers in HTTP-responses. This does not directly lead to a security issue, yet it might aid attackers in their efforts to exploit other problems. The flaws unnecessarily make the servers more prone to Clickjacking, channel downgrade attacks and other similar client-based attack vectors.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

All versions of Keycloak have a vulnerability where the Admin Console HTTP responses are missing general security headers (such as X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, HSTS, CSP). This omission increases susceptibility to clickjacking, channel downgrade attacks, and other client-side exploit vectors.

MitigationConfigure the web server, reverse proxy, or Keycloak itself to include standard HTTP security headers in all Admin Console responses to mitigate clickjacking and client-based attack vectors.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
KeycloakApplication
Affected:< 10.0.0
QuarkusApplication
Affected:<= 1.4.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Keycloak installation and version
    Locate the Keycloak instance and determine its version by checking the server banner, startup logs, or admin console about page. Compare the version number against the affected ranges: Red Hat Keycloak < 10.0.0 or Quarkus Quarkus <= 1.4.2
    Affected if The installed version falls within the affected ranges
  2. Access the Admin Console endpoint
    Navigate a browser or HTTP client to the Keycloak Admin Console URL (typically /auth/admin/ or /admin/ depending on version) and capture the HTTP response
    Affected if The Admin Console endpoint is accessible
  3. Inspect HTTP response headers for X-Frame-Options
    Using browser developer tools (Network tab), curl with -I flag, or a similar HTTP inspection tool, examine the response headers from the Admin Console. Look specifically for the X-Frame-Options header
    Affected if The X-Frame-Options header is absent from Admin Console responses
  4. Inspect HTTP response headers for X-Content-Type-Options
    Examine the same Admin Console response headers for the X-Content-Type-Options header
    Affected if The X-Content-Type-Options header is absent from Admin Console responses
  5. Inspect HTTP response headers for HSTS
    Check the response headers for the Strict-Transport-Security header which enables HTTP Strict Transport Security
    Affected if The HSTS header is absent from Admin Console responses
  6. Inspect HTTP response headers for CSP
    Examine the response headers for the Content-Security-Policy header which controls resource loading
    Affected if The CSP header is absent from Admin Console responses

If Keycloak version is < 10.0.0 (or Quarkus <= 1.4.2) and the Admin Console responses are missing any of these security headers (X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, HSTS, or CSP), the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.0.0 or later
Fixed in 10.0.0
Interim mitigation

Configure the web server, reverse proxy, or Keycloak itself to include standard HTTP security headers in all Admin Console responses to mitigate clickjacking and client-based attack vectors.

Fix this in Keycloak Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-1728 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data