VulnerabilityPublished 30 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-116240: pgAdmin 4 · Path Traversal

Affects pgAdmin 4Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium : upgrade to 9.19 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 20:38 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

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

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

CVSS scores by source
CNA (PostgreSQL)	CVSS 3.1	6.5
CNA (PostgreSQL)	CVSS 4.0	7.1

Patch: Available – fixed in 9.19

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 30 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 30 Oct 2026.

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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity 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.

cwe-367

What to do

Upgrade pgAdmin 4 to 9.19.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
pgadmin.orgpgAdmin 4	Affected <9.19	Fixed in 9.19
GitHubpgAdmin 4`pkg:github/pgAdmin 4`Other threats	Affected <9.19	Fixed in 9.19

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

AI-suggested

Upgrade pgAdmin 4 to version 9.19 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed. The fix ensures consistent path validation and usage, prevents double decoding of paths, and restricts file operations to within the validated storage directory without following symbolic links. No other mitigation is required as the issue is resolved in the official patch.

Description

CVE-2026-116240 is a path traversal vulnerability in pgAdmin 4 server mode before version 9.19. The issue arises because the path validation function check_access_permission() and the actual file operations use differently constructed paths, allowing attackers to access or manipulate files outside the intended user storage directory. This affects operations such as opening files in the Query Tool, listing folders, downloading, deleting, renaming files, and creating folders. The vulnerability does not affect desktop mode. It has a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.5 (medium severity).

Impact

An attacker with limited privileges can exploit this vulnerability to read arbitrary files accessible by the pgAdmin account, including sensitive files such as the Google client secret. On Windows, the attacker can also write files outside the storage directory. Additionally, attackers can list any directory on the host, read, delete, or move files belonging to other users, and create folders in other users' directories. This can lead to unauthorized information disclosure and potential data manipulation. The vulnerability does not affect the availability or integrity of the pgAdmin server itself beyond file access issues.

Summary

In pgAdmin 4 server mode prior to version 9.19, the function check_access_permission() validates paths relative to a user's storage directory. However, several callers use differently constructed paths when performing file operations, leading to discrepancies between the checked path and the path actually used. This allows path traversal attacks enabling reading or writing files outside the intended storage directory. Specific issues include improper handling of leading slashes and backslashes, double decoding of folder paths, and appending paths without separators, which can lead to unauthorized access or modification of files belonging to other users. The fix in version 9.19 ensures that check_access_permission() returns the validated path which all callers use, decodes folder paths only once, and prevents following symbolic links when accessing files.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (Path Traversal) (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #6OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
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.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Path Traversal (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 30 Oct 2026, 20:17 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-22

Technical details

References

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