pgAdmin 4: Materialized view refresh redirects its connection through a crafted database name
Affects pgAdmin 4 releases before 9.19 when the materialized view refresh feature is used. The vendor's fix is pending 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- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean?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, the web-based administration tool for PostgreSQL databases, is affected in its materialized view refresh feature. A user with permission to create databases could craft a database name that redirects the connection to an attacker-chosen host, leaking the saved server password and letting the pgAdmin host connect to arbitrary addresses.
Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.
Read the original description
pgAdmin 4's materialized view refresh passed the target database's name to psql's --dbname argument unchanged. libpq treats a --dbname value containing "=" (or a postgresql:// URI) as a full connection string, whose keywords override the host, port and other settings pgAdmin had supplied. A database whose name is such a string, which any role with CREATEDB can create, therefore redirected the psql process pgAdmin starts for the refresh to a host and port of the creator's choosing, and the connecting user's saved server password was presented to that endpoint. It also let the pgAdmin host be made to open connections to arbitrary addresses. The same weakness was fixed for Backup, Restore, Maintenance and Import/Export Data in earlier releases (CVE-2026-86862); the materialized view refresh was the remaining caller. The fix routes the name through the same database_conninfo() helper, so libpq treats it strictly as a database name. 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-2026-116252
What does this mean?
The materialized view refresh passes the target database's name directly into the psql connection it starts. A crafted database name can redirect that psql to a host and port of the attacker's choice, which can leak the connecting user's saved server password and let the pgAdmin host open connections to arbitrary addresses.Source: github.com, github.com
Am I affected, and how do I check?
pgAdmin 4 releases before 9.19 are affected when the materialized view refresh feature is used. The installed version can be compared against 9.19 to see which side of that line it falls on.Source: github.com, github.com
What should I do about it?
Move to pgAdmin 4 9.19 or later once it is released, since the fix is pending in that version. No fixed release is confirmed in the facts yet.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