pgAdmin 4: AI Assistant read-only transaction bypass allows unauthorised writes and remote code execution
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-12045 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | PostgreSQL |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-06-19 00:16:46 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-06-23 05:17:03 UTC |
| Description | Read-only transaction bypass in the pgAdmin 4 AI Assistant allows an attacker who can influence database content that the assistant reads to execute arbitrary SQL with the privileges of the pgAdmin user's database role. The AI Assistant's execute_sql_query tool runs LLM-generated SQL inside a BEGIN TRANSACTION READ ONLY wrapper to prevent data modification. The LLM-supplied query was forwarded to the database driver without restriction to a single statement or to read-only verbs, so a multi-statement payload beginning with COMMIT, END, ROLLBACK, or ABORT terminated the read-only transaction and ran subsequent statements in autocommit mode. The trailing ROLLBACK then had no effect. Delivery is via prompt injection: an attacker who can write content into any object the AI Assistant may inspect (a row, a column value, a comment) can cause the LLM to emit the multi-statement payload as a tool call. With ordinary write privileges on the pgAdmin user's role the attacker can perform unauthorised data modification. When the pgAdmin user's role is a PostgreSQL superuser or holds pg_execute_server_program, the chain extends to remote code execution on the database server host via COPY ... TO PROGRAM. Fix validates the LLM-supplied query up front: it must parse to exactly one non-empty / non-comment statement whose leading real token (after stripping whitespace, comments, and punctuation) is one of SELECT, WITH, EXPLAIN, SHOW, VALUES, or TABLE. Transaction-control verbs, DML, DDL, CALL, COPY, DO, SET/RESET, and everything else are rejected before any database work happens. PostgreSQL's READ ONLY mode continues to backstop data-modifying CTEs, EXPLAIN ANALYZE on writes, and volatile side effects. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: from 9.13 before 9.16. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v4.0 9.4 CRITICAL from f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Problem Types: CWE-77 | CWE-89 | CWE-89 CWE-89 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') | CWE-77 CWE-77 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007 | Secondary | 9.4 | CRITICAL | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/C... |
| 4.0 | CNA | CVSS | 9.4 | CRITICAL | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H |
| 3.1 | f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007 | Secondary | 9 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 9 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
CVSS v4.0 Breakdown
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Pgadmin.org | PgAdmin 4 | affected 9.13 9.16 custom | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/commit/bf4792444446f0e7ab721d23cbd6bfe6a... | f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007 | github.com | |
| github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/10022 | f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007 | github.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: Isaac Chen <[email protected]> (en)
CNA: Dave Page <[email protected]> (en)
CNA: Kundan Sable <[email protected]> (en)