Keycloak Test Realm: Fixing User Attribute Import Issues

Dec 4, 2025 by Alex Johnson 57 views

Are you experiencing issues with user attributes not being imported into your Keycloak test realm? You're not alone! This article dives into a common problem encountered when working with Keycloak's test suite: user attributes failing to propagate correctly. We'll explore the bug, its impact, and how to address it, ensuring your testing environment accurately reflects your production setup.

Understanding the Issue: User Attributes in Keycloak Test Realm

When working with Keycloak, a leading open-source identity and access management solution, the test suite is crucial for verifying configurations and application integrations. A common practice involves creating users with specific attributes within the test realm to simulate various scenarios. However, a bug has been identified where these user attributes are not consistently imported into the test realm, leading to discrepancies and potentially flawed test results.

This problem specifically arises when programmatically adding users with attributes to the test realm. The attributes, which can include details like phone numbers, addresses, or custom profile information, are essential for accurately replicating user contexts during testing. When these attributes fail to transfer, it can lead to unexpected behavior in the applications relying on this data. The core of the problem lies in how Keycloak's test suite handles the serialization and deserialization of user representations, particularly when dealing with attribute mappings. When a UserRepresentation object is created with attributes and added to the test realm, the attributes sometimes get lost in the process. This can occur due to various reasons, including inconsistencies in the data structures used internally or issues in the persistence layer where user data is temporarily stored during testing.

The impact of this bug can be significant. If user attributes are missing, tests might pass under incorrect assumptions, leading to issues in production. For example, if an application relies on a specific user attribute to grant access to certain features, the test might incorrectly authorize access if the attribute is absent in the test realm. This can result in security vulnerabilities or functional errors that go unnoticed until the application is deployed. Furthermore, troubleshooting this issue can be time-consuming and frustrating. Developers might spend hours debugging application behavior, only to realize that the root cause is a missing attribute in the test realm. This can delay project timelines and increase development costs. Therefore, it is essential to address this bug and ensure that user attributes are reliably imported into the Keycloak test realm.

The Bug in Detail: A Code-Level Examination

To illustrate the bug, let's examine the code snippet provided in the original bug report. The code attempts to create users with specific client roles and attributes within the test realm. The relevant part is the getUserRepresentation method, which constructs a UserRepresentation object. The issue arises when this object, including its attributes, is added to the test realm. The attributes associated with these users do not make it into the testRealm. This means that when you later try to retrieve the user and inspect their attributes, they are missing.

Here’s a breakdown of the code and the problem:

Map<String, List<String>> clientRoles = Map.of(clientId, List.of("testRole"));
List<UserRepresentation> realmUsers = Optional.ofNullable(testRealm.getUsers()).map(ArrayList::new).orElse(new ArrayList<>());
realmUsers.add(getUserRepresentation("John Doe", List.of(CREDENTIAL_OFFER_CREATE.getName()), clientRoles));
realmUsers.add(getUserRepresentation("Alice Wonderland", List.of(), Map.of()));
testRealm.setUsers(realmUsers);

This code snippet sets up users with certain roles and credentials. However, if the getUserRepresentation method also includes setting user attributes, these attributes are not being persisted correctly in the test realm. The bug manifests when attempting to retrieve a user and access their attributes. For example:

UserRepresentation alice = testRealm().users().search("alice").get(0);
// alice.getAttributes() == null

This code expects to retrieve the attributes of the user "alice," but alice.getAttributes() returns null, indicating that the attributes were not properly imported. This discrepancy highlights the core issue: the attributes added to the UserRepresentation object during user creation are not being correctly persisted or retrieved within the test realm context. The root cause of this behavior is likely within the serialization and deserialization processes used by Keycloak’s test suite. When the UserRepresentation object is added to the test realm, it needs to be serialized for storage and then deserialized when retrieved. If the serialization or deserialization logic does not correctly handle the attributes, they can be lost in this process. Another potential cause could be related to the caching mechanisms within Keycloak. If the user data is being cached without the attributes, subsequent retrieval operations will not include the missing information.

Reproducing the Bug: A Step-by-Step Guide

To reproduce this bug, you can follow these steps. This will help you confirm the issue in your environment and test any potential solutions.

Set up a Keycloak test environment: Ensure you have a Keycloak instance running in test mode. This typically involves configuring a separate database and realm for testing purposes.
Create a test realm: If you don't already have one, create a new realm specifically for testing. This will keep your test data separate from your production data.
Implement user creation code: Write code similar to the snippet provided in the bug report. This code should programmatically create users and add them to the test realm. Make sure to include setting attributes for the users.

Add user attributes: In the getUserRepresentation method, add code to set attributes for the user. For example:

UserRepresentation user = new UserRepresentation();
user.setUsername("alice");
Map<String, List<String>> attributes = new HashMap<>();
attributes.put("phone", List.of("123-456-7890"));
user.setAttributes(attributes);
return user;

Retrieve the user and check attributes: After adding the user to the test realm, retrieve the user and check their attributes. This is where you will observe the bug.

UserRepresentation alice = testRealm().users().search("alice").get(0);
System.out.println(alice.getAttributes()); // Expected: {"phone"=[123-456-7890]}, Actual: null

By following these steps, you should be able to reproduce the bug where user attributes are not imported into the Keycloak test realm. This will allow you to verify the issue and test any potential solutions or workarounds.

Potential Solutions and Workarounds

While the bug fix is pending, several workarounds can help mitigate the issue and ensure user attributes are correctly imported into the test realm.

Explicitly Update User Attributes: One workaround is to explicitly update the user attributes after creating the user. This involves retrieving the user from the test realm and then using the Keycloak API to update their attributes. This ensures that the attributes are correctly persisted in the database. Here’s an example of how to do this:
```
UserRepresentation alice = testRealm().users().search("alice").get(0);
alice.setAttributes(attributes); // Set the attributes
testRealm().users().get(alice.getId()).update(alice); // Update the user
```
This approach ensures that the attributes are explicitly persisted in the Keycloak database, bypassing any potential issues with the initial user creation process.
Use Keycloak REST API: Instead of using the test suite's programmatic methods, you can use the Keycloak REST API to create users and set attributes. This method provides more direct control over the user creation process and can help avoid issues related to the test suite's internal mechanisms. You can use a REST client or a programming language with HTTP request capabilities to interact with the Keycloak API. Here’s a basic example using Java and the Apache HttpClient library:
```
HttpClient client = HttpClientBuilder.create().build();
HttpPost post = new HttpPost("http://localhost:8080/auth/admin/realms/testRealm/users");
post.setHeader("Authorization", "Bearer " + accessToken); // Replace with your access token
post.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");

String json = "{\"username\": \"alice\", \"attributes\": {\"phone\": [\"123-456-7890\"]}}";
post.setEntity(new StringEntity(json));

HttpResponse response = client.execute(post);
```
This method directly interacts with the Keycloak API, ensuring that user attributes are correctly set during creation.
Verify Attributes After Creation: Implement a verification step in your test suite to check if the user attributes are correctly set after user creation. This can help you quickly identify if the bug is occurring and take corrective action. You can add an assertion to your test case that retrieves the user and checks their attributes. For example:
```
UserRepresentation alice = testRealm().users().search("alice").get(0);
assertNotNull(alice.getAttributes());
assertTrue(alice.getAttributes().containsKey("phone"));
assertEquals("123-456-7890", alice.getAttributes().get("phone").get(0));
```
This proactive approach helps ensure that any issues with attribute persistence are caught early in the testing process.

By employing these workarounds, you can mitigate the impact of the bug and ensure that user attributes are correctly imported into your Keycloak test realm. While these solutions require additional steps, they provide a reliable way to work around the issue until a permanent fix is available.

Conclusion: Ensuring Accurate User Attribute Import in Keycloak

In conclusion, the bug where user attributes are not imported into the Keycloak test realm can be a significant obstacle in ensuring accurate and reliable testing. Understanding the nature of the bug, its impact, and how to reproduce it is crucial for developers and testers working with Keycloak. While a permanent fix is pending, the workarounds discussed in this article, such as explicitly updating user attributes, using the Keycloak REST API, and verifying attributes after creation, provide effective strategies to mitigate the issue.

By implementing these solutions, you can ensure that your test realm accurately reflects the user data in your production environment, leading to more reliable and comprehensive testing. This, in turn, helps prevent unexpected issues and ensures the smooth operation of your applications. Staying informed about such bugs and proactively addressing them is a key part of maintaining a robust and secure identity and access management system with Keycloak.

For more information on Keycloak and its features, visit the official Keycloak documentation.