pgAdmin 4: SQL injection in COMMENT ON ... IS '<description>' rendering across dialog templates
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- SQL injection
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-89.
Summary
SQL injection in pgAdmin 4 across every dialog template that renders ``COMMENT ON ... IS '<description>'`` for a user-supplied description field. The Jinja templates for Domains (and their constraints), Foreign Tables, Languages, and Event Triggers, plus the Views OID-lookup query, interpolated the description directly inside a single-quoted SQL literal -- ``'{{ data.description }}'`` -- instead of passing it through the ``qtLiteral`` escape filter. An authenticated pgAdmin user with permission to create or alter the affected object types could submit a description containing an apostrophe, break out of the literal and chain arbitrary SQL. The injected SQL runs under the PostgreSQL role the user is already authenticated as; for a connected role with ``COPY ... TO/FROM PROGRAM`` (typically PostgreSQL superuser), this chains to OS command execution on the PostgreSQL host. The defect does not cross a privilege boundary -- the user already has direct SQL access to that role through pgAdmin's Query Tool -- so the attacker gains no capability beyond what their database role already grants. The marginal impact captures bypass of any application-layer Query Tool gating an operator may have configured. The defect was originally reported against the Domain Dialog ``description`` field; a code-wide audit identified sixteen sites of the same pattern across the templates listed above. The same review also surfaced ten related sinks in the pgstattuple/pgstatindex stats templates -- ``pgstattuple('{{schema}}.{{table}}')`` and the matching pgstatindex shape -- where ``qtIdent`` escapes embedded double quotes inside the identifier but not apostrophes, so a user with CREATE privilege on a schema could plant a table or index named ``foo'bar`` and a later stats viewer would render an unbalanced literal. Fix is layered: 1. Sites: replace every ``'{{ x.description }}'`` with ``{{ x.description|qtLiteral(conn) }}`` (no surrounding quotes -- the filter wraps the value in escaped quotes itself). Plumb ``conn=self.conn`` through every ``render_template`` call that loads one of these templates. Also corrects a ``{ % elif`` Jinja typo in the foreign-table schema diff (dead branch). Rewrite the ten pgstattuple/pgstatindex stats sites to address the relation via OID + ``::oid::regclass`` cast (e.g. ``pgstattuple({{ tid }}::oid::regclass)``), eliminating the embedded literal-call form entirely so that bug-class can no longer recur there. 2. Driver hardening: ``qtLiteral`` (in ``utils/driver/psycopg3/__init__.py``) used to silently return the raw unescaped value when its ``conn`` argument was falsy. It now raises ``ValueError`` -- surfacing the entire bug class going forward. The change immediately uncovered eight latent plumbing bugs (in ``schemas/__init__.py``, ``schemas/functions/__init__.py``, ``schemas/tables/utils.py``, ``foreign_servers/__init__.py``, and seven sites in ``roles/__init__.py``) -- all fixed as part of this patch. The inner ``except`` block that swallowed adapter-level failures and returned the raw value is also removed, so unadaptable inputs raise instead of leaking unescaped values. 3. Regression tests: a per-template behavioural test renders each previously-vulnerable template with an apostrophe-injection payload and asserts the escaped fragment is present and the vulnerable fragment absent; a lint test walks every ``*.sql`` template flagging any ``'{{ ... }}'`` single-quote-wrapped interpolation against an explicit allowlist; unit tests cover the new qtLiteral fail-fast and inner-except raise paths. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: from 1.0 before 9.16.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pgadmin.org | pgAdmin 4 | 1.0 to before 9.16 | 9.16 | Patch available | CNA |
- pgAdmin 4 Vendorpgadmin.org Affected 1.0 to before 9.16 Fixed in 9.16 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:pgadmin:pgadmin_4:*:*:*:*:*:postgresql:*:* | 1.0 to before 9.16 | Vulnerable | pgadmin.org |
- cpe:2.3:a:pgadmin:pgadmin_4:*:*:*:*:*:postgresql:*:* Versions 1.0 to before 9.16 Vulnerable ·pgadmin.org
Remediation
- Fix · CNA pgAdmin 4 (pgadmin.org) Fixed in 9.16
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 9.16
7 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 4 MEDIUM, 3 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-10383 Missing authentication in pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4Priority MEDIUM 45
- TI-2026-10382 pgAdmin 4: AI Assistant read-only transaction bypass allows unauthorised writes and remote code executionPriority MEDIUM 43
- TI-2026-10385 pgAdmin 4: Stored XSS via untrusted error and plan-node text rendered through html-react-parserPriority MEDIUM 42
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-12044
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-hrvw-6gvm-9x99
References
More pgadmin.org Pgadmin 4 vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-01901 Unsafe Deserialisation and Remote Code Execution by an Authenticated user in pgAdmin 4 CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.9
- TI-2024-02918 Remote Code Execution Vulnerability through the validate binary path API in pgAdmin 4 CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-03867 Code injection in pgadmin4 CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2026-06875 pgAdmin 4: Cross-user data access and shared-server privilege escalation in server mode CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.4
- TI-2025-02572 pgAdmin 4: Remote Code Execution in Query Tool and Cloud Deployment CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.9
- TI-2023-00228 Path traversal in pgadmin CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-12044 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-12044 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-hrvw-6gvm-9x99 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-12044 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences