CVE-2026-12045 (GCVE-0-2026-12045)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-06-18 23:37 – Updated: 2026-06-18 23:37
VLAI
Title
pgAdmin 4: AI Assistant read-only transaction bypass allows unauthorised writes and remote code execution
Summary
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.
Severity
9 (Critical)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
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
CWE
  • CWE-89 - Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
  • CWE-77 - Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 Affected: 9.13 , < 9.16 (custom)
Create a notification for this product.
Credits
Isaac Chen <isaac9503@gmail.com> Dave Page <page@pgadmin.org> Kundan Sable <kundan.sable@enterprisedb.com>
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "modules": [
            "AI Assistant",
            "LLM Tools"
          ],
          "product": "pgAdmin 4",
          "programFiles": [
            "https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/blob/master/web/pgadmin/llm/tools/database.py"
          ],
          "repo": "https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4",
          "vendor": "pgadmin.org",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "9.16",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "9.13",
              "versionType": "custom"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "credits": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "finder",
          "value": "Isaac Chen \u003cisaac9503@gmail.com\u003e"
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "remediation developer",
          "value": "Dave Page \u003cpage@pgadmin.org\u003e"
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "remediation reviewer",
          "value": "Kundan Sable \u003ckundan.sable@enterprisedb.com\u003e"
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "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\u0027s database role.\n\nThe AI Assistant\u0027s 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.\n\nDelivery 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\u0027s role the attacker can perform unauthorised data modification. When the pgAdmin user\u0027s 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.\n\nFix 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\u0027s READ ONLY mode continues to backstop data-modifying CTEs, EXPLAIN ANALYZE on writes, and volatile side effects.\n\nThis issue affects pgAdmin 4: from 9.13 before 9.16."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "attackComplexity": "LOW",
            "attackVector": "NETWORK",
            "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
            "baseScore": 9,
            "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
            "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
            "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
            "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
            "scope": "CHANGED",
            "userInteraction": "REQUIRED",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "format": "CVSS",
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "Threat model: indirect prompt injection. An attacker with low-privilege DB write access plants a payload in any object the AI Assistant might read (table row, column value, comment). When a pgAdmin user with a higher-privilege role (typically PostgreSQL superuser or holder of pg_execute_server_program) opens the AI Assistant against that content, the LLM emits the multi-statement payload as a tool call. The crafted payload uses COMMIT / END / ROLLBACK / ABORT to close the wrapping read-only transaction, then COPY ... TO PROGRAM to gain OS code execution on the DB host.\n\nS:C is earned by the confused-deputy pattern: the attacker is not the LLM user; third-party DB content steers the user\u0027s LLM session to execute writes the user did not authorise. This does *not* score the user self-jailbreaking their own assistant -- only the indirect-injection vector.\n\nAlternative: AC:H (-\u003e 8.0 HIGH) is defensible given LLM non-determinism (the payload doesn\u0027t fire every invocation) and the superuser-victim precondition. The 9.0 figure is the optimistic end of the range."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "cvssV4_0": {
            "baseScore": 9.4,
            "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
            "vectorString": "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",
            "version": "4.0"
          },
          "format": "CVSS",
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "Same reasoning as the CVSS 3.1 entry: indirect prompt injection, third-party content drives the user\u0027s LLM session, COPY ... TO PROGRAM reaches the DB host. VC:H/VI:H/VA:H + SC:H/SI:H/SA:H since RCE on the DB host compromises both pgAdmin\u0027s authority and the downstream system. UI:P captures that the user merely uses the AI Assistant normally; the attacker does not direct any specific user action."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-89",
              "description": "CWE-89 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command (\u0027SQL Injection\u0027)",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            },
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-77",
              "description": "CWE-77 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command (\u0027Command Injection\u0027)",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-06-18T23:37:35.182Z",
        "orgId": "f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007",
        "shortName": "PostgreSQL"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "issue-tracking"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/10022"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "patch"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/commit/bf4792444446f0e7ab721d23cbd6bfe6afaa7a8b"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "discovery": "EXTERNAL"
      },
      "title": "pgAdmin 4: AI Assistant read-only transaction bypass allows unauthorised writes and remote code execution"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007",
    "assignerShortName": "PostgreSQL",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-12045",
    "datePublished": "2026-06-18T23:37:35.182Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-06-11T20:40:06.461Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-06-18T23:37:35.182Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}


Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.





Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.


Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.