NVD / CVE Program· CNA PostgreSQL

CVE-2026-17566: pgAdmin 4: RCE via backslash-escape mismatch in Import/Export Data query guard (incomplete defense, sibling gap to CVE-2025-13780)

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 37/100)

Public proof-of-concept code exists (GitHub); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.67% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 52.3% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: pgadmin4 (openSUSE:Tumbleweed) 9.17-1.1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to pgadmin4 (openSUSE:Tumbleweed) 9.17-1.1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

pgAdmin 4's Import/Export Data tool builds a psql \copy (...) command line by interpolating a user-supplied SQL query into a Jinja template and passing the rendered line to psql via --command. To stop an attacker from breaking out of the (...) wrapper, create_import_export_job() (route POST /import_export/job/<sid>, gated only by the ordinary, commonly-granted tools_import_export_data permission) validated the query with a hand-written parenthesis-balance checker, _is_query_parens_balanced(). That checker always treated a backslash before a single quote (\') as escaping the quote, i.e. as if standard_conforming_strings were off. PostgreSQL has defaulted standard_conforming_strings to on since 9.1 (2010), the default on every PostgreSQL version pgAdmin 4 currently supports (13-18); under that default psql's own \copy tokenizer treats \ as an ordinary character, so a single quote immediately after it closes the string literal. A query such as SELECT 'a\') TO PROGRAM 'echo pwned' x' was therefore accepted as "balanced" by pgAdmin's checker (which believed the ) was still inside the string), while psql, run through the actual rendered command line, closes the string at that point and treats the following ) as the end of the wrapping \copy (...) subquery, exposing an attacker-chosen TO PROGRAM '<command>' clause that psql executes via popen() -- independent of a subsequent syntax error later on the same line. This is the same class of bug as CVE-2025-12762/CVE-2025-13780 (RCE via psql meta-command/COPY injection during PLAIN-format dump restore), reached through an independently written defense in a different module (Import/Export Data rather than Restore) that had its own, different logic bug (inverted backslash-escape semantics rather than a BOM-defeated regex anchor). The fix rejects any backslash inside a single-quoted string in the query outright, rather than picking one of the two possible psql interpretations. This is intentionally conservative: because the correct interpretation of \ depends on the target server's standard_conforming_strings setting, which the checker cannot reliably know at validation time, refusing the query is safer than guessing. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: from the introduction of _is_query_parens_balanced() before 9.18.

CriticalCVSS 9.4 · v4.0—Proof of concept Fix available

Published: Jul 31, 2026
Updated: Oct 23, 2026
EPSS: 0.6% · 52th percentile
CWE: CWE-78

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 37 / 40 · 9.4 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.6%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: —
CNA · PostgreSQL: 9.9; NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
Proof of concept exists, no weaponized module
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
pgadmin	pgadmin 4	cpe:2.3:a:pgadmin:pgadmin_4

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

pgadmin pgadmin 4before 9.18

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (PostgreSQL). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4
- before 9.18affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	pgadmin4	before 9.17-1.1	9.17-1.1

Same product

pgadmin: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2024-2044Unsafe Deserialisation and Remote Code Execution by an Authenticated user in pgAdmin 4
63This week
CVE-2024-3116Remote Code Execution Vulnerability through the validate binary path API in pgAdmin 4
60This week
CVE-2022-4223The pgAdmin server includes an HTTP API that is intended to be used to validate the path a user selects to external PostgreSQL utilities suc
59Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2026-17350Jul 31, 2026 · pgAdmin 4: Tool permission bypass via backend routes and Socket.IO handlers
21Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2026-17351Jul 31, 2026 · pgAdmin 4: AI Assistant read-only transaction bypass via sqlparse/PostgreSQL lexer disagreement (incomplete fix for CVE-2026-12045)
37Monitor
Later →CVE-2026-86861Sep 17, 2026 · pgAdmin 4: File Manager save_file writes through a symbolic link planted after the containment check
24Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
opensuse:pgadmin4	9.17-1.1 · openSUSE:Tumbleweed	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
Source	Kind	Date
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub	stars:2	2026-08-04

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

PublishedJul 31, 2026
First PoCAug 4, 2026+3 d
TodayNov 8, 2026+100 d

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

pgadmin-org/pgadmin4commit 1496fab

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Ashesh Vashi <ashesh.vashi@enterprisedb.com>remediation developer
Arpit Jain (arpitjain099)finder

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

CVE-2026-11624191 days apartpgAdmin 4: Import/Export Data query export runs a command through a backslash in a double-quoted identifier
37Monitor
CVE-2025-12763260 days apartCommand injection vulnerability allowing arbitrary command execution on Windows
35Monitor
CVE-2026-781681 days apartpgAdmin 4: OS command injection in Import/Export query export via psql metacommand breakout
34Monitor
CVE-2026-173470 days apartpgAdmin 4: OS command injection in MASTER_PASSWORD_HOOK via untrusted username substitution
30Monitor

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

CVE-2026-173480 days apartpgAdmin 4: Missing authentication decorator on Constraints, preferences, Debugger and Schema Diff routes allows unauthenticated access in SERVER mode (incomplet
27Monitor

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: X

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-78 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/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

nvd-secondary

Root cause

User input is inserted as text into a shell command. The shell may interpret special characters in the input as part of the command.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-78 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const host = req.body.host;
2exec("ping -c 1 " + host, onResult);

Fixed

1const host = req.body.host;
2if (!/^[a-z0-9.-]{1,253}$/i.test(host)) return res.sendStatus(400);
3execFile("ping", ["-c", "1", host], onResult);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:47 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/commit/1496fabe28c9f825f6bac0f0d000d9d3276322c3

Show all references (1 more)

github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/10213

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records