Description
In server mode pgAdmin 4 validates a path a user gives for a file in their storage directory with check_access_permission() and then opened it by name. Several places opened it with a plain open() or handed the path to a utility that opened it later: the servers.json export and import and the import file listing, and the files given to pg_dump, pg_dumpall, pg_restore and psql by Backup, Restore and Import/Export Data. A symbolic link swapped in at the file or at any parent directory between the check and the open redirected the operation outside the storage directory, so a file could be written, overwritten or read, or loaded into a table, as the operating-system account running pgAdmin. A hard link to an outside file, which O_NOFOLLOW does not detect, and a FIFO, which could hang a request, had the same effect. CVE-2026-86861 fixed this for the File Manager's save_file; these were the remaining paths.

Exploitation requires creating such a link or FIFO inside the user's storage directory. pgAdmin offers no way to do so, and the per-user storage directories belong to the pgAdmin account, so this requires write access to the storage backend as a different operating-system user, for example a shared or network-mounted storage directory, and winning the race.

The fix opens each file by walking down from the storage directory one component at a time with O_NOFOLLOW, accepting only a regular file with one link, and passes the utilities the open descriptor (/dev/fd/N) on Linux. Error messages no longer include the server path.

This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.
Published: 2026-10-30
Score: 7.3 High
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
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Remediation

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History

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Pgadmin
Pgadmin pgadmin 4
Vendors & Products Pgadmin
Pgadmin pgadmin 4

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 20:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In server mode pgAdmin 4 validates a path a user gives for a file in their storage directory with check_access_permission() and then opened it by name. Several places opened it with a plain open() or handed the path to a utility that opened it later: the servers.json export and import and the import file listing, and the files given to pg_dump, pg_dumpall, pg_restore and psql by Backup, Restore and Import/Export Data. A symbolic link swapped in at the file or at any parent directory between the check and the open redirected the operation outside the storage directory, so a file could be written, overwritten or read, or loaded into a table, as the operating-system account running pgAdmin. A hard link to an outside file, which O_NOFOLLOW does not detect, and a FIFO, which could hang a request, had the same effect. CVE-2026-86861 fixed this for the File Manager's save_file; these were the remaining paths. Exploitation requires creating such a link or FIFO inside the user's storage directory. pgAdmin offers no way to do so, and the per-user storage directories belong to the pgAdmin account, so this requires write access to the storage backend as a different operating-system user, for example a shared or network-mounted storage directory, and winning the race. The fix opens each file by walking down from the storage directory one component at a time with O_NOFOLLOW, accepting only a regular file with one link, and passes the utilities the open descriptor (/dev/fd/N) on Linux. Error messages no longer include the server path. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.
Title pgAdmin 4: Files opened in a storage directory follow a symbolic link, hard link or FIFO planted after the containment check
Weaknesses CWE-367
CWE-59
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L'}

cvssV4_0

{'score': 7.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}


Subscriptions

Pgadmin Pgadmin 4
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: PostgreSQL

Published:

Updated: 2026-10-30T19:55:18.713Z

Reserved: 2026-10-25T16:26:16.420Z

Link: CVE-2026-116250

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-10-30T20:17:05.170

Modified: 2026-10-30T20:17:05.170

Link: CVE-2026-116250

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-10-30T22:00:15Z

Weaknesses