OpenStack keystonemiddleware: Privilege escalation and user impersonation via forged authentication headers
CVE: CVE-2026-22797
Component: keystonemiddleware
CWE: CWE-290
Severity: Important
CVSS v3: 9.5/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
Release date: 2026-01-19T00:00:00+00:00

A flaw was found in OpenStack keystonemiddleware. The external_oauth2_token middleware fails to properly sanitize incoming authentication headers. An authenticated attacker can exploit this by sending forged identity headers, such as X-Is-Admin-Project, X-Roles, or X-User-Id. This can lead to privilege escalation or impersonation of other users within the system.

Statement: This is an IMPORTANT privilege escalation flaw in OpenStack keystonemiddleware. The external_oauth2_token middleware does not correctly sanitize incoming authentication headers. An authenticated attacker can exploit this by sending forged identity headers, such as X-Is-Admin-Project, X-Roles, or X-User-Id, to escalate privileges or impersonate other users. All Red Hat OpenStack Platform deployments utilizing the external_oauth2_token middleware are affected.

Remediation:
For OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update:

https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.19/html/release_notes/

You may download the oc tool and use it to inspect release image metadata for x86_64, s390x, ppc64le, and aarch64 architectures. The image digests may be found at https://quay.io/repository/openshift-release-dev/ocp-release?tab=tags.

The sha values for the release are as follows:

      (For x86_64 architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:64d312cc715ccb58e44b7ed0a7a1a24ad407b72be2cb865512f9bf8ff7578524

      (For s390x architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:d597607d81ec8146b6403a37d48605c34c0649cffdd5b9a532936d71e7c02d81

      (For ppc64le architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:ce22c81cb59efaad506ed4c0222611d8ed603a597cca876e1ab87f4ff94523da

      (For aarch64 architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:d09f3caab920c99068212112676f4a8c2e7f3ee72f69d69ead2ec90e8918213b

All OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages and images when they are available in the appropriate release channel. To check for available updates, use the OpenShift CLI (oc) or web console. Instructions for upgrading a cluster are available at https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.19/html-single/updating_clusters/index#updating-cluster-cli.
For OpenShift Container Platform 4.21 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update:

https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.21/html/release_notes/

You may download the oc tool and use it to inspect release image metadata for x86_64, s390x, ppc64le, and aarch64 architectures. The image digests may be found at https://quay.io/repository/openshift-release-dev/ocp-release?tab=tags.

The sha values for the release are as follows:

      (For x86_64 architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:9caace3e8d9da8537d33091eaeab307db47a11fa17d0c7d872fb19b6a9808926

      (For s390x architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:49a0680c960e2826676ba1f91e3eb0a908847d3daf00b1beafa5b261d668d03a

      (For ppc64le architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:39c453c24bf8d2012dd06b9c1a511b86ccef1f6b680ad5b475e5381ce4518652

      (For aarch64 architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:8e5a7eb8f2fd6831b6c229fac611ddd6d00713af3d327d3d1d93768710dbc7b5

All OpenShift Container Platform 4.21 users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages and images when they are available in the appropriate release channel. To check for available updates, use the OpenShift CLI (oc) or web console. Instructions for upgrading a cluster are available at https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.21/html-single/updating_clusters/index#updating-cluster-cli.
For OpenShift Container Platform 4.20 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update:

https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.20/html/release_notes/

You may download the oc tool and use it to inspect release image metadata for x86_64, s390x, ppc64le, and aarch64 architectures. The image digests may be found at https://quay.io/repository/openshift-release-dev/ocp-release?tab=tags.

The sha values for the release are as follows:

      (For x86_64 architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:5e2fb7977a82237e497443e2bb53fd1c196e083fc5095294699399b61ce02746

      (For s390x architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:dfc309cca8f14d497793502deace618448e55a97686b49793034a16e014a5843

      (For ppc64le architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:097c91d50e665781b82929c57911fff13b453d1ef3ee1759d84a0ce88da8e03b

      (For aarch64 architecture)
      The image digest is sha256:665bd6fff9282786782e17b6b70520e798087d06eaa840e0bb37e2ed3a9ac59e

All OpenShift Container Platform 4.20 users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages and images when they are available in the appropriate release channel. To check for available updates, use the OpenShift CLI (oc) or web console. Instructions for upgrading a cluster are available at https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/openshift_container_platform/4.20/html-single/updating_clusters/index#updating-cluster-cli.