pgAdmin 4: Non-administrators can share a server with every user
Affects pgAdmin 4 versions before 9.19 running in server mode with multiple users. CVSS rates it medium (6.8), and no vendor severity is given. 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- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean?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, specifically its server management API and servers.json import feature. Non-administrator users could share database server entries with all other users, which could lead them to connect to a malicious host and expose their database passwords.
Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.
Read the original description
In pgAdmin 4 server mode only administrators are meant to share a server with all users; the server dialog shows the Shared switch only to them. The create and update endpoints of the server API, however, stored the "shared" flag and shared username they were sent, so any user able to register a server could share one with every other user. The servers.json import had a similar gap: a non-administrator's "Shared" entries were removed only after validation, so a file that also held an invalid entry could create a shared server. A shared server carries no credentials, so this gives no direct access. It lets a user plant a server, named to look trusted, in every other user's tree and pointing at a host the user controls; anyone who then connects to it presents their own database password to that host. The fix refuses a non-administrator's request that would share a server with HTTP 403, prunes a non-administrator's shared entries from a servers.json import before validating it, and warns at startup about servers shared earlier by non-administrators. 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 2
GitHub · pgadmin-org/pgadmin4
Questions about CVE-2026-116248
What does this mean?
A non-administrator user can share a server with every other user of the installation, which places that server in their trees.Source: github.com
Am I affected, and how do I check?
The range covers pgAdmin 4 from version 0 up to, but not including, 9.19, and the condition is a server mode installation with multiple users. Compare the installed pgAdmin 4 version with 9.19 and check whether the installation runs in server mode with multiple users.Source: github.com
What should I do about it?
Upgrade pgAdmin 4 to 9.19 or later, the fixed version listed for this vulnerability.Source: 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