pgAdmin up to 9.18 Server Mode improper authentication

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in pgAdmin up to 9.18. This affects an unknown part of the component Server Mode. Executing a manipulation can lead to improper authentication. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-116239. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in pgAdmin up to 9.18 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects an unknown part of the component Server Mode. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authentication vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-287. When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In server mode pgAdmin 4 keeps an account per authentication source, so the same username can exist as, for example, an internal account and an LDAP account. After LDAP or Kerberos authenticated a user, pgAdmin chose the account to log in by username alone, or took the account Flask-Security's login form had looked up, without checking that it came from the source that authenticated the user. The session therefore belonged to another account, with its role, its servers and its saved database passwords: - An LDAP or Kerberos user whose username matched an internal account was logged in as that internal account, including the administrator account created when pgAdmin is first set up. - With internal authentication listed before LDAP or Kerberos in AUTHENTICATION_SOURCES, the login form's internal validation looks up the account whose email was typed and keeps it even though its password does not match. A Kerberos user could type another Kerberos user's principal and be logged in as that user, and an LDAP user could do the same with an LDAP account whose email is their username. Exploitation requires valid credentials for an LDAP directory or Kerberos realm that pgAdmin is configured to use. The fix looks the account up by the authenticated username and the source that authenticated it, and no longer uses the account the login form found for any source but internal authentication. Internal authentication logs in that account only if it is an internal account. Desktop mode is not affected. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-116239 since 10/25/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available.

Upgrading to version 9.19 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Name

• pgAdmin

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

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