PostgreSQL up to 18.4 pg_dump injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as problematic has been identified in PostgreSQL up to 14.23/15.18/16.14/17.10/18.4. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the component pg_dump. The manipulation results in injection. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-18408. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in PostgreSQL up to 14.23/15.18/16.14/17.10/18.4. It has been classified as problematic. Affected is an unknown code block of the component pg_dump. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a injection vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-74. The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Untrusted data inclusion in pg_dump in PostgreSQL allows a malicious superuser of the origin server to inject arbitrary code for restore-time execution as the client operating system account running psql to restore the dump, via psql \restrict meta-command input expansion. The fix for CVE-2025-8714 introduced \restrict and \unrestrict to block this attack, but \unrestrict itself was sufficient for an attack. pg_dumpall is also affected. pg_restore is affected when used to generate a plain-format dump. Non-core use of \restrict would be affected, but we've not identified non-core use. Versions before PostgreSQL 18.5, 17.11, 16.15, 15.19, and 14.24 are affected.

The advisory is shared for download at postgresql.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-18408 since 07/30/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1055.

Upgrading to version 14.24, 15.19, 16.15, 17.11 or 18.5 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• Database Software

Name

• PostgreSQL

Version

• 14.0
• 14.1
• 14.2
• 14.3
• 14.4
• 14.5
• 14.6
• 14.7
• 14.8
• 14.9
• 14.10
• 14.11
• 14.12
• 14.13
• 14.14
• 14.15
• 14.16
• 14.17
• 14.18
• 14.19
• 14.20
• 14.21
• 14.22
• 14.23
• 15.0
• 15.1
• 15.2
• 15.3
• 15.4
• 15.5
• 15.6
• 15.7
• 15.8
• 15.9
• 15.10
• 15.11
• 15.12
• 15.13
• 15.14
• 15.15
• 15.16
• 15.17
• 15.18
• 16.0
• 16.1
• 16.2
• 16.3
• 16.4
• 16.5
• 16.6
• 16.7
• 16.8
• 16.9
• 16.10
• 16.11
• 16.12
• 16.13
• 16.14
• 17.0
• 17.1
• 17.2
• 17.3
• 17.4
• 17.5
• 17.6
• 17.7
• 17.8
• 17.9
• 17.10
• 18.0
• 18.1
• 18.2
• 18.3
• 18.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://www.postgresql.org/

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