pgAdmin 4: An LDAP or Kerberos login is logged in to another account with the same username
Affects pgAdmin 4 before 9.19 when an LDAP or Kerberos username matches an Internal account, such as the initial administrator. Fixed in 9.19.
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- How many real-world setups can hit the bug, from the vendor's advisory and CISA data. It does not know your setup.What do these mean? →
- Specific setups only
- Fix
- Fixed in 9.19
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
Summary
pgAdmin 4 in server mode is affected when users sign in through LDAP or Kerberos, where a valid external login can open a session belonging to a different pgAdmin account with the same username, such as an internal account or the administrator account. That account's role, servers, and saved database passwords would then be exposed to the attacker.
Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.
Read the original description
In server mode pgAdmin 4 keeps an account per authentication source, so the same username can exist as, for example, an internal account and an LDAP account. After LDAP or Kerberos authenticated a user, pgAdmin chose the account to log in by username alone, or took the account Flask-Security's login form had looked up, without checking that it came from the source that authenticated the user. The session therefore belonged to another account, with its role, its servers and its saved database passwords: • An LDAP or Kerberos user whose username matched an internal account was logged in as that internal account, including the administrator account created when pgAdmin is first set up. • With internal authentication listed before LDAP or Kerberos in AUTHENTICATION_SOURCES, the login form's internal validation looks up the account whose email was typed and keeps it even though its password does not match. A Kerberos user could type another Kerberos user's principal and be logged in as that user, and an LDAP user could do the same with an LDAP account whose email is their username. Exploitation requires valid credentials for an LDAP directory or Kerberos realm that pgAdmin is configured to use. The fix looks the account up by the authenticated username and the source that authenticated it, and no longer uses the account the login form found for any source but internal authentication. Internal authentication logs in that account only if it is an internal account. Desktop mode is not affected. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.
Timeline
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
Affected versions
- pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4
fixed in 9.19
References 3
GitHub · pgadmin-org/pgadmin4
Questions about CVE-2026-116239
What does this mean?
An LDAP or Kerberos user can be logged in as a different account with the same username. This can include an Internal account with its roles, such as the initial administrator.Source: github.com, github.com
Am I affected, and how do I check?
The affected versions are pgAdmin 4 before 9.19. The issue needs the same username to exist under more than one authentication source, with Internal authentication listed before LDAP or Kerberos in the authentication sources. A reader can check the installed version and the order of the authentication sources in the pgAdmin configuration.Source: github.com, github.com
What should I do about it?
Upgrade to pgAdmin 4 9.19 or later.Source: github.com, github.com
Is it being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data