CVE-2026-12046: pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 vulnerability
pgadmin.org · pgAdmin 4
Fixed in 9.16 · Affected: pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 before 9.16 · Exploitation: not established
ExploitationNot established
Not in CISA KEV as of catalogue 2026.11.13 (13 Nov)
- In CISA KEV: not seen
- Exploited (reported): not seen
- Scanning observed: not seen
- Proof of concept public: not seen
- Not establishedNothing in the sources we check
Higher than 64% of scored CVEs
DescriptionNVD
Two state-mutating endpoints in pgAdmin 4's SQL Editor blueprint -- DELETE /sqleditor/close/<trans_id> and POST /sqleditor/initialize/sqleditor/update_connection/<sgid>/<sid>/<did> -- were the only routes in the module missing the @pga_login_required decorator. Both reach a pickle.loads sink on session['gridData'][<trans_id>]['command_obj']: the close endpoint via close_sqleditor_session(), and update_sqleditor_connection via check_transaction_status(). In server mode these endpoints were reachable without any authenticated pgAdmin session. The defect is a missing-authentication-on-critical-function (CWE-306) wrapper around a deserialization-of-untrusted-data sink (CWE-502). Exploiting it for remote code execution requires the attacker to also forge a server-side session file whose gridData entry contains a malicious pickle payload, which in turn requires both (a) knowledge of pgAdmin's Flask SECRET_KEY (no chain to leak it is described here -- the attacker must already possess it) and (b) write access to pgAdmin's sessions/ directory on the host. Neither precondition is granted by this defect on its own. When those preconditions are met from another channel (misconfigured deployment, prior compromise, leaked configuration), the missing auth gate is the final hop that turns an existing partial compromise into unauthenticated code execution in the pgAdmin process -- and, by extension, on the host under whatever account runs pgAdmin. Fix is a one-line @pga_login_required decorator on each of the two endpoints, matching the convention used by every other route in the module. The is_authenticated / MFA chain now runs before the trans_id is dereferenced, so an unauthenticated request is rejected before reaching the deserialization path. The defect is server-mode only.
On the Atlas
Every published CVE is on the CyberSIXT Atlas, grouped by weakness, vendor and month.
- Exploitation
- Possible (1 to 10%). EPSS between 1% and 10%.
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Public check
- No public nuclei template
- Vendor
- pgadmin.org
- Published
- June 2026
Coverage1 article · 1 outlet
First in our coverage: SecurityOnline, 22 Jun.
- Critical pgAdmin 4 flaws expose RCE risk, urgent patch advisedSecurityOnline · first in our coverage
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