pgAdmin 4: AI Assistant read-only transaction bypass allows unauthorised writes and remote code execution

Summary

CVECVE-2026-12045
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerPostgreSQL
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-06-19 00:16:46 UTC
Updated2026-06-23 05:17:03 UTC
DescriptionRead-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')


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.0f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007Secondary9.4CRITICALCVSS: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...
4.0CNACVSS9.4CRITICALCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
3.1f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007Secondary9CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNACVSS9CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
Passive
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Sub Conf.
High
Sub Integrity
High
Sub Availability
High

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

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Pgadmin.org PgAdmin 4 affected 9.13 9.16 custom Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
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)

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