Project-member-to-admin escalation via trust role validation
Published May 28, 2026 · Updated May 28, 2026
Incorrect authorization in affected OpenStack Keystone releases allows remote authenticated users with a project member role to gain admin access. A token impersonating an administrator passes trustor validation, after which the trust API checks delegated roles against the victim's database assignments instead of the requesting token's roles. Exploitation requires chaining the application-credential impersonation flaw with an unrestricted application credential; the resulting admin trust persists and records actions as the victim.
Summary
What happened
Incorrect authorization in affected OpenStack Keystone releases allows remote authenticated users with a project member role to gain admin access. A token impersonating an administrator passes trustor validation, after which the trust API checks delegated roles against the victim's database assignments instead of the requesting token's roles. Exploitation requires chaining the application-credential impersonation flaw with an unrestricted application credential; the resulting admin trust persists and records actions as the victim.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-43000
- Published
- May 28, 2026
- Updated
- May 28, 2026
- Vendor
- OpenStack
- Product
- Keystone
- Classifications
- CWE-266, CWE-863, T1098.003
- 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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Launchpad Keystone trust-chain proof of conceptproof of concept · unverified
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