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Link race in pgAdmin 4 lets file access escape storage directory

Priority LOW 33CWE-367Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Attack requirements
Present
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · Low
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

pgAdmin 4 before 9.19 in server mode checks a user-supplied path in the storage directory, then opens the file later by name. A symbolic link, hard link or FIFO swapped in between the check and the open redirects reads and writes outside the storage directory (CWE-367). A local user with write access to the storage backend, as a different operating system account, can write, overwrite or read files as the pgAdmin account by winning the race.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-05

Description from the CNA

In server mode pgAdmin 4 validates a path a user gives for a file in their storage directory with check_access_permission() and then opened it by name. Several places opened it with a plain open() or handed the path to a utility that opened it later: the servers.json export and import and the import file listing, and the files given to pg_dump, pg_dumpall, pg_restore and psql by Backup, Restore and Import/Export Data. A symbolic link swapped in at the file or at any parent directory between the check and the open redirected the operation outside the storage directory, so a file could be written, overwritten or read, or loaded into a table, as the operating-system account running pgAdmin. A hard link to an outside file, which O_NOFOLLOW does not detect, and a FIFO, which could hang a request, had the same effect. CVE-2026-86861 fixed this for the File Manager's save_file; these were the remaining paths. Exploitation requires creating such a link or FIFO inside the user's storage directory. pgAdmin offers no way to do so, and the per-user storage directories belong to the pgAdmin account, so this requires write access to the storage backend as a different operating-system user, for example a shared or network-mounted storage directory, and winning the race. The fix opens each file by walking down from the storage directory one component at a time with O_NOFOLLOW, accepting only a regular file with one link, and passes the utilities the open descriptor (/dev/fd/N) on Linux. Error messages no longer include the server path. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00096 0th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed pgAdmin 4 (pgadmin.org): 9.19

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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
pgadmin.orgpgAdmin 4before 9.199.19Patch availableCNA
  • pgAdmin 4 Vendorpgadmin.org Affected before 9.19 Fixed in 9.19 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:pgadmin:pgadmin_4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——pgadmin.org
  • cpe:2.3:a:pgadmin:pgadmin_4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·pgadmin.org

Remediation

Upgrade pgAdmin 4 to version 9.19 or later.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-05

  • Fix · CNA pgAdmin 4 (pgadmin.org) Fixed in 9.19

Fixed in the same release

Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.

  • Release ·

    pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 9.19

    15 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 3 MEDIUM, 12 LOW

    Other records, highest priority first

    • TI-2026-83355 Command execution via backslash bypass in pgAdmin 4 query exportPriority MEDIUM 42
    • TI-2026-83352 Failed login limit bypass in pgAdmin 4 allows unlimited password guessingPriority MEDIUM 42
    • TI-2026-83353 pgAdmin 4 LDAP or Kerberos login opens another account by usernamePriority MEDIUM 41

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-30 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-116250
  2. 2026-10-30 Alias added: GHSA-2wvp-3w8r-39fh
  3. 2026-11-01 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
  4. 2026-11-06 CISA SSVC decision points changed

References

  • 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
See all 62 →

Sources