CVE-2024-10973
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 · uneditedA vulnerability was found in Keycloak. The environment option `KC_CACHE_EMBEDDED_MTLS_ENABLED` does not work and the JGroups replication configuration is always used in plain text which can allow an attacker that has access to adjacent networks related to JGroups to read sensitive information.
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 · moderate confidenceIn Keycloak, the environment variable KC_CACHE_EMBEDDED_MTLS_ENABLED is intended to enable TLS encryption for JGroups cache replication traffic, but it is non-functional. Regardless of this setting, JGroups replication always communicates in plain text, allowing adjacent network attackers to intercept sensitive session and cached data.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Keycloak installation and versionRun 'keycloak --version' or check the container/image metadata, or inspect the Keycloak startup logs for the version numberAffected if Keycloak version is deployed and the cache embedding (embedded JGroups) feature is in use
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Check for KC_CACHE_EMBEDDED_MTLS_ENABLED environment variableRun 'env | grep KC_CACHE_EMBEDDED_MTLS_ENABLED' or inspect Kubernetes/OpenShift deployment manifests, Docker environment variables, or systemd service filesAffected if The environment variable KC_CACHE_EMBEDDED_MTLS_ENABLED is set to any value (true, false, or empty)
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Inspect Keycloak configuration filesReview conf/keycloak.conf, standalone.xml, or any custom configuration files for the setting 'cache-embedded-mtls' or 'KC_CACHE_EMBEDDED_MTLS'Affected if The MTLS configuration option is present in any configuration file
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Verify JGroups port trafficUse a network capture tool (tcpdump, wireshark) on ports used by JGroups (typically 7600, 57600) to observe if traffic is unencrypted - look for plain text patterns in the replication trafficAffected if JGroups cache replication traffic is observed in plain text on the network, indicating the MTLS protection is not functioning
If Keycloak is deployed with the KC_CACHE_EMBEDDED_MTLS_ENABLED environment variable configured (regardless of its value), the system is affected because the MTLS encryption feature is non-functional and JGroups traffic is always unencrypted.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataSince the option itself is broken, organizations should apply network-level controls to restrict JGroups port access and monitor for suspicious traffic, while awaiting an official Keycloak patch that properly implements the MTLS configuration.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-10973 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-10973 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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