CVE-2023-4918
Plaintext storage of user password
A flaw was found in the Keycloak package, more specifically org.keycloak.userprofile. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular user attributes. All users and clients with proper rights and roles are able to read users attributes, allowing a malicious user with minimal access to retrieve the users passwords in clear text, jeopardizing their environment.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used 8.8
Plaintext storage of user password
A flaw was found in the Keycloak package, more specifically org.keycloak.userprofile. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular user attributes. All users and clients with proper rights and roles are able to read users attributes, allowing a malicious user with minimal access to retrieve the users passwords in clear text, jeopardizing their environment.
- Record
CVE-2023-4918- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-256
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-2438 8.8
A flaw was found in the Keycloak package, more specifically org.keycloak.userprofile. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular user attributes. All users and clients with proper rights and roles are able to read users attributes, allowing a malicious user with minimal access to retrieve the users passwords in clear text, jeopardizing their environment.
- Record
EUVD-2023-2438- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-5q66-v53q-pm35 8.8
Keycloak vulnerable to Plaintext Storage of User Password
A flaw was discovered in Keycloak Core package. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular attributes in the users attributes. The password is also created, but the user attributes must not be there. This way, any entities (all users and clients with proper rights/roles) are able to retrieve the users passwords in clear-text.
Impact
Passwords for self-registered users are stored as cleartext attributes associated with the user.
Mitigation
Disable self-registration for users in all realms until patched.
- Record
GHSA-5q66-v53q-pm35- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-256, CWE-319
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD 8.8
A flaw was found in the Keycloak package, more specifically org.keycloak.userprofile. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular user attributes. All users and clients with proper rights and roles are able to read users attributes, allowing a malicious user with minimal access to retrieve the users passwords in clear text, jeopardizing their environment.
- Record
CVE-2023-4918- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-256, CWE-319
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV 8.8
Plaintext storage of user password
A flaw was found in the Keycloak package, more specifically org.keycloak.userprofile. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular user attributes. All users and clients with proper rights and roles are able to read users attributes, allowing a malicious user with minimal access to retrieve the users passwords in clear text, jeopardizing their environment.
- Record
CVE-2023-4918- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-256
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-5q66-v53q-pm35 8.8
Keycloak vulnerable to Plaintext Storage of User Password
A flaw was discovered in Keycloak Core package. When a user registers itself through registration flow, the "password" and "password-confirm" field from the form will occur as regular attributes in the users attributes. The password is also created, but the user attributes must not be there. This way, any entities (all users and clients with proper rights/roles) are able to retrieve the users passwords in clear-text.
Impact
Passwords for self-registered users are stored as cleartext attributes associated with the user.
Mitigation
Disable self-registration for users in all realms until patched.
- Record
GHSA-5q66-v53q-pm35- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-256, CWE-319
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
org.keycloak:keycloak-coreMaven | 22.0.2 to 22.0.2 | 22.0.3 |
org.keycloak:keycloak-coreMaven | 22.0.2 up to 22.0.3 | 22.0.3 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-4918 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.8) in Redhat Keycloak, published September 12, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.57%, the 47th percentile. Fixed in org.keycloak:keycloak-core 22.0.3.
References
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-4918
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2238588
github.com/keycloak/keycloak/security/advisories/GHSA-5q66-v53q-pm35
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4918
github.com/advisories/GHSA-5q66-v53q-pm35
access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/4xxx/CVE-2023-4918.json
github.com/keycloak/keycloak