Troubleshooting Keycloak Admin REST API Access: Common Role Issues

Discover how to resolve `403 Forbidden` errors with the Keycloak Admin REST API by ensuring the correct roles and configurations are in place for users.
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Troubleshooting Keycloak Admin REST API Access: Common Role Issues

If you're using Keycloak and have recently upgraded from version 14 to 15, you may encounter issues when trying to access the Admin REST API. Specifically, many users have run into 403 Forbidden errors when making requests to endpoints like:

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In this post, we'll explain the cause of these errors and how to properly configure your roles in Keycloak to ensure smooth access to the Admin REST API.

Understanding the Problem

After upgrading to Keycloak 15, users have noticed they can successfully authenticate and receive an access token using the realm-admin role from the realm-management client. However, when attempting to access certain endpoints, a 403 Forbidden error is returned, indicating that while authentication is successful, permissions for specific actions are lacking.

Key Observations:

You receive a valid access token indicating successful authentication.

The access token does not contain any roles, which is crucial for permission checks.

The issue started arising after the Keycloak upgrade.

Solution: Check User Roles and Protocol Configuration

1. Verify User Role Assignment

The most common cause of the 403 Forbidden error is the misconfiguration of user roles in Keycloak. Ensure that the user you are using to access the Admin REST API has been assigned the appropriate roles. In this case:

Role to check: realm-admin

Client to check: realm-management

Here's how to verify role assignment:

Log in to your Keycloak admin console.

Navigate to the Users section and select the user in question.

Go to the Role Mappings tab and ensure that the realm-admin role is assigned under the realm-management client.

2. Confirm the Request Protocol

Sometimes, the issue might stem from simple mistakes, such as specifying the wrong request protocol (HTTP vs. HTTPS). Ensure that your requests are made with the correct protocol. A mismatch here can lead to connection issues and prevent access to the REST API.

3. Test the Configuration

After verifying that the user has the correct roles and ensuring the protocol is correct, test the configuration again by making a request to the REST API. If appropriately configured, you should no longer see 403 Forbidden errors.

Conclusion

In summary, when facing issues with access to the Keycloak Admin REST API after an upgrade, always begin by checking the following:

The user has the necessary roles, specifically realm-admin in the realm-management client.

The request is being sent with the correct protocol.

By ensuring the appropriate role assignments and configurations are in place, you can effectively troubleshoot and resolve access issues to the Keycloak Admin REST API.

If you're still experiencing errors after these checks, further investigation into Keycloak’s server logs may provide additional insights. Happy coding!