CVE-2025-0218VulnerabilityPublished 7 Jan 2025Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-0218: pgAgent · Generation of Predictable Numbers or Identifiers

Affects pgAgentSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium : upgrade to 4.2.3 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 7% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 4.2.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 7 Jan 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade pgadmin-org/pgagent to 4.2.3.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubpgadmin-org/pgagent`pkg:github/pgadmin-org/pgagent`Other threats	Affected <4.2.3	Fixed in 4.2.3

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

The primary mitigation is to upgrade pgAgent to version 4.2.3 or later, where the random number generator seeding issue has been resolved. Until patching is possible, organizations should restrict local user permissions to prevent unauthorized users from creating directories in the temporary locations used by pgAgent. Implement strict access controls and monitoring on systems running pgAgent to detect suspicious directory creation attempts. Consider isolating pgAgent execution environments to minimize the number of users with local access. Regularly audit scheduled job execution logs to identify failures potentially caused by this vulnerability. Additionally, review and harden the system's temporary directory permissions and consider using filesystem-level protections such as mandatory access controls (e.g., SELinux, AppArmor) to prevent unauthorized directory manipulation. Incorporating these measures will reduce the risk of exploitation and maintain job scheduling reliability.

Description

When batch jobs are executed by pgAgent, a script is created in a temporary directory and then executed. In versions of pgAgent prior to 4.2.3, an insufficiently seeded random number generator is used when generating the directory name, leading to the possibility for a local attacker to pre-create the directory and thus prevent pgAgent from executing jobs, disrupting scheduled tasks.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability primarily threatens the availability of automated batch jobs managed by pgAgent. Disruption of scheduled tasks can affect database maintenance, backups, data processing pipelines, and other critical automated workflows. This can lead to operational delays, increased manual intervention, and potential compliance issues if scheduled jobs are part of regulatory reporting or data retention processes. While the vulnerability does not expose sensitive data or allow unauthorized data modification, the interruption of services can degrade business continuity and impact dependent applications. Organizations with complex PostgreSQL environments relying heavily on pgAgent for automation are at higher risk. The requirement for local access limits remote exploitation, but insider threats or compromised internal accounts could leverage this vulnerability. The medium severity rating indicates a moderate risk that should be addressed promptly to maintain operational stability.

References

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