Users getting 401 "Unauthorized" error after direct database credential/session deletion - Keycloak 26.3.0

Environment

Keycloak Version: 26.3.0

Deployment: Kubernetes (multiple pods)

Database: Oracle

Issue: Persistent 401 errors after database manipulation

Error message screen

Problem Description

After directly deleting user credentials and sessions from the database, all users are experiencing 401 “Unauthorized” errors when attempting to login, even after passwords have been reset.

Error shown to users:

{“code”:“401”,“message”:“Unauthorized - Contact Administrator with this error”}

What We Did

We executed the following SQL operations directly on the Keycloak database for specific users:


-- Delete user passwords 
DELETE FROM CREDENTIAL WHERE TYPE = 'password'  
  AND USER_ID IN ( 
    SELECT ID FROM USER_ENTITY  
    WHERE USERNAME IN (<ALL_USERNAMES>) 
  ); 
 
-- Delete offline client sessions 
DELETE FROM OFFLINE_CLIENT_SESSION  
WHERE USER_SESSION_ID IN ( 
  SELECT USER_SESSION_ID FROM OFFLINE_USER_SESSION 
  WHERE USER_ID IN ( 
    SELECT ID FROM USER_ENTITY  
    WHERE USERNAME IN (<ALL_USERNAMES>) 
  ) 
); 
 
-- Delete offline user sessions 
DELETE FROM OFFLINE_USER_SESSION  
WHERE USER_ID IN ( 
  SELECT ID FROM USER_ENTITY  
  WHERE USERNAME IN (<ALL_USERNAMES>) 
); 

Current Behavior
Users attempt to login with new passwords
During the OAuth callback, users receive 401 error even after resetting the password

Workaround: Users must clear browser cache/cookies to login successfully
After clearing cache, login works fine

What We’ve Tried
1- Password reset via Admin Console - Users have valid passwords now
2- Scaled all Kubernetes pods to 0, then back up - Cache should be cleared

But 401 issue still exist! Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!