pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 up to 9.18 Server Mode check_access_permission path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as problematic has been reported in pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 up to 9.18. Affected by this vulnerability is the function check_access_permission of the component Server Mode. Performing a manipulation results in path traversal. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-116240. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 up to 9.18. This affects the function check_access_permission of the component Server Mode. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

In server mode pgAdmin 4 validates a path into the user's storage directory with check_access_permission(), which builds the absolute path with get_abs_path(). Several callers then acted on a path they built differently, so the path checked and the path used could name different files: - Opening a file in the Query Tool, the Google client secret and, on Windows, Import/Export Data, Backup, Restore and saving a file joined the path to the storage directory after stripping leading slashes and backslashes. On POSIX a path checked as a name inside storage could become an absolute path once stripped, so any file the pgAdmin account can read could be opened; on Windows a path naming a drive discarded the storage directory, so these could read, or write, outside it. - Listing a folder decoded the path a second time after the check, so a folder named like an encoded "..", which a user can create, listed any directory on the host. - Download, delete, rename and the file-exists check appended the path to the storage directory without a separator, so in a deployment where one user's storage directory name is a prefix of another's, another user's files could be read, deleted or moved; download also checked the path appended to itself. - Creating a folder could create one in another user's directory. The fix makes check_access_permission() return the path it checked and every caller act on that path, decodes folder paths once, and opens, deletes and renames files relative to directories opened from the storage directory without following symbolic links. Desktop mode is not affected. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-116240 since 10/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1006 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 9.19 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• pgadmin.org

Name

• pgAdmin 4

Version

• 9.0
• 9.1
• 9.2
• 9.3
• 9.4
• 9.5
• 9.6
• 9.7
• 9.8
• 9.9
• 9.10
• 9.11
• 9.12
• 9.13
• 9.14
• 9.15
• 9.16
• 9.17
• 9.18

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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