KeystoneApplication · Openstack

CVE-2026-42999

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 27.0.2 / 28.0.2 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable Zero-click Patch available

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
An issue was discovered in OpenStack Keystone before 29.0.2. The Keystone RBAC policy enforcer in enforce_call unconditionally merges the raw JSON request body into the policy enforcement dictionary via policy_dict.update(json_input.copy()), overwriting trusted target data that was previously set from database lookups. Because flask.request.get_json is called with force=True, this works regardless of Content-Type or HTTP method. Any authenticated user can inject arbitrary policy target attributes (e.g., user_id, project_id) into the request body to bypass RBAC checks and perform unauthorized operations on resources belonging to other users or projects. This was introduced in commit 5ea59f52 (Rocky/14.0.0).

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-863

An authorization check exists but is flawed, so it passes when it should fail. Attackers probe roles and object references to find the gap. Remediation means centralising and correctly implementing the access-control logic, then testing it against every role.

General guidance for the incorrect authorization class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
KeystoneApplication
Affected:>= 14.0.0, < 27.0.2>= 28.0.0, < 28.0.2>= 29.0.0, < 29.0.2

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 27.0.2 / 28.0.2 / 29.0.2 or later
Fixed in 27.0.228.0.229.0.2
Vendor patch bugs.launchpad.net →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Keystone 29.0.2 (latest stable fixed release). For version-specific fixes: 27.0.2 for Train release train, 28.0.2 for Ussuri release train, or 29.0.2 for Victoria and later release trains.

  1. Identify current Keystone version by checking the package version (e.g., `keystone-manage --version` or `pip show python-keystoneclient`)
  2. Plan maintenance window for upgrade procedure
  3. For Red Hat OpenStack Platform: use RHOSP upgrade tools or yum update to upgrade to the fixed version
  4. For upstream OpenStack: upgrade by updating the package repository and running package manager upgrade (e.g., `apt-get update && apt-get upgrade` or `yum update` for RHEL-based systems)
  5. After upgrade, verify Keystone service is running: `systemctl status openstack-keystone` or `keystone-manage bootstrap`
  6. Validate the fix by reviewing the patch at https://bugs.launchpad.net/keystone/+bug/2148398 - ensure the problematic `policy_dict.update(json_input.copy())` is no longer present in enforce_call function
  7. Test RBAC policy enforcement with a non-admin user to confirm target attributes from request body no longer override database-sourced target data
Caveat Upgrading across multiple release trains (e.g., from 14.x directly to 29.x) may introduce breaking changes in API behavior, configuration, or database schema migrations. Review OpenStack upgrade documentation and test in staging environment first.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

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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

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Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-42999 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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