SQL injection via channel name in Postgrex.Notifications.listen/3 and unlisten/3

Summary

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in elixir-ecto postgrex ('Elixir.Postgrex.Notifications' module) allows SQL Injection. The channel argument passed to 'Elixir.Postgrex.Notifications':listen/3 and 'Elixir.Postgrex.Notifications':unlisten/3 is interpolated directly into LISTEN "..." / UNLISTEN "..." SQL statements without escaping the " character. An attacker who can influence the channel name can inject a " to break out of the quoted identifier and append arbitrary SQL. Because the notifications connection uses the PostgreSQL simple query protocol, multi-statement payloads are accepted, allowing DDL and DML commands to be chained (e.g. ; DROP TABLE ...; --). The same unsanitized interpolation also occurs in handle_connect/1 when replaying LISTEN commands after a reconnect. This vulnerability is associated with program file lib/postgrex/notifications.ex and program routines 'Elixir.Postgrex.Notifications':listen/3, 'Elixir.Postgrex.Notifications':unlisten/3, 'Elixir.Postgrex.Notifications':handle_connect/1. This issue affects postgrex: from 0.16.0 before 0.22.2.

Timeline

1. May 12, 2026, 2:18 PM UTCCVE published
2. May 12, 2026, 7:44 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

3. Jul 24, 2026, 2:16 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• postgrex

  From 0.16.0 · fixed in 0.22.2

• elixir-ecto/postgrex

  Version range not reported

References 4