User impersonation via unchecked credential ownership
Published May 28, 2026 · Updated May 28, 2026
Incorrect authorization in OpenStack Keystone allows remote authenticated users to impersonate other users in shared projects. The application credential authentication plugin accepts a credential ID and secret while retaining a different user name and domain from the request, then issues a token without matching that identity to the credential owner. Exploitation requires a valid application credential and a shared project; the resulting token has intersecting roles but enables victim-attributed actions and credential reads.
Summary
What happened
Incorrect authorization in OpenStack Keystone allows remote authenticated users to impersonate other users in shared projects. The application credential authentication plugin accepts a credential ID and secret while retaining a different user name and domain from the request, then issues a token without matching that identity to the credential owner. Exploitation requires a valid application credential and a shared project; the resulting token has intersecting roles but enables victim-attributed actions and credential reads.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-42998
- Published
- May 28, 2026
- Updated
- May 28, 2026
- Vendor
- OpenStack
- Product
- Keystone
- Classifications
- CWE-863, T1078.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 28, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 28, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=14.0.0 <27.0.2
- Affected versionversion=28.0.0 <28.0.2
- Affected versionversion=29.0.0 <29.0.2
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo