Keycloak - 401 response (USER_INFO_REQUEST_ERROR) when obtaining userinfo via /realms/{realm}/protocol/openid-connect/userinfo

I have a Keycloak deployed locally with the following Docker command:

docker run -p 8080:8080 -e KEYCLOAK_ADMIN=admin -e KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin start-dev

I get a token from Keycloak. Example:

eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCIgOiAiSldUIiwia2lkIiA6ICJMZjRfWHJjWkpTaVJYWlFLS254VS1NdU9FTHA4d3NaaHlLMDQ0UjRIRjdnIn0.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.j_rFqVxICtj7NR-myEsWhSkwBeCABplFrmlBuRMAhF4N8HzdOOtExdmw_mXdx60snKTaE5GJHPofjllpM353lY8H9NGxaczUgL20GjVmMhwtihGGBLpiw7TXyGQGkfdBXdweCuS0W1avegXrhRYvCYlFGJMoxsdmskYkDt4DjuESlTkMEOndVjv5LBp3rLB6lRopq0Qg3Abp_rv57KvlVeeul24OKoisFohnZ4VfsiDPAuVW1u1xaYmjCRDlBwIcGosdwasL_WNAgvJkaKdVtvu7NU-ghPa1vQkWJkMZrVIZDsCc5LKZqwspw3U2iOcUc5EDC6FumBWdfvWCx8cszw

Its payload:

{ "exp": 1670087508, "iat": 1670087208, "auth_time": 1670086470, "jti": "2ad1849d-1224-48b6-afcc-5fac1fc867f4", "iss": "", "aud": "account", "sub": "4db7b685-4da0-4fc3-b625-82fc517c6076", "typ": "Bearer", "azp": "somex5", "nonce": "GKMoRVE5Cj6RV2LpT5289yT7EGVxS3fN", "session_state": "168cbfdd-2afa-4299-b8be-2a13ac22672b", "acr": "0", "realm_access": { "roles": [ "offline_access", "uma_authorization", "default-roles-dialog-feat" ] }, "resource_access": { "account": { "roles": [ "manage-account", "manage-account-links", "view-profile" ] } }, "scope": "openid profile email", "sid": "168cbfdd-2afa-4299-b8be-2a13ac22672b", "email_verified": true, "name": "John Snow", "preferred_username": "john.snow", "given_name": "John", "family_name": "Snow", "email": "[email protected]" } 

It seems valid. Then I'm making a request to with the token:

curl --location --request GET '
--header 'Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCIgOiAiSldUIiwia2lkIiA6ICJMZjRfWHJjWkpTaVJYWlFLS254VS1NdU9FTHA4d3NaaHlLMDQ0UjRIRjdnIn0.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.j_rFqVxICtj7NR-myEsWhSkwBeCABplFrmlBuRMAhF4N8HzdOOtExdmw_mXdx60snKTaE5GJHPofjllpM353lY8H9NGxaczUgL20GjVmMhwtihGGBLpiw7TXyGQGkfdBXdweCuS0W1avegXrhRYvCYlFGJMoxsdmskYkDt4DjuESlTkMEOndVjv5LBp3rLB6lRopq0Qg3Abp_rv57KvlVeeul24OKoisFohnZ4VfsiDPAuVW1u1xaYmjCRDlBwIcGosdwasL_WNAgvJkaKdVtvu7NU-ghPa1vQkWJkMZrVIZDsCc5LKZqwspw3U2iOcUc5EDC6FumBWdfvWCx8cszw'

But I get a 401 status code returned. For example:

type=USER_INFO_REQUEST_ERROR, realmId=(...), clientId=null, userId=null, ipAddress=(...), error=access_denied, auth_method=validate_access_token 

How to fix this?

My Keycloak settings:

1 Answer

The problem seems to be a mismatch between the issuer of the access token sent to the userinfo endpoint (i.e., "iss": "") and the issuer that the access token validator triggered by the userinfo endpoint is expecting.

Instead of:

Then I'm making a request to with the token (...):

Use the same hostname in the userinfo endpoint has the one that you have used to acquire the access token, for instance:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer (..<your access token..)" 

If the problem still persistes then you also facing the issues related with the Keycloak endpoint implementation described in UserInfo endpoint not fully standards compliant.

In short in your request for a the access token explicitly add the parameter scope=openid. An example:

curl --request POST \ --url "" \ --data client_id=somex5 \ --data username=john.snow \ --data password=...<the password..> \ --data grant_type=password \ --data scope=openid