OS command injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in pgAdmin 4 Import/Export query export.
User-supplied input was interpolated directly into a psql \copy metacommand template without sanitization. An authenticated user could inject ") TO PROGRAM 'cmd'" to break out of the \copy (...) context and achieve arbitrary command execution on the pgAdmin server, or ") TO '/path'" for arbitrary file write. Additional fields (format, on_error, log_verbosity) were also raw-interpolated and exploitable.
Fix adds a parens-balance parser modeled on psql's strtokx tokenizer, allow-lists format/on_error/log_verbosity, rejects null bytes in the query, and tightens type and gating checks.
This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.15.
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score: 8.8
Authenticated pgAdmin user with tools_import_export permission. Command execution occurs in the pgAdmin process, which is the same security authority as the application itself; S:U reflects no scope change. Whether this is a privilege escalation depends on whether the attacker had other shell access to the pgAdmin host.
| Attack Vector |
Network |
Scope |
Unchanged |
| Attack Complexity |
Low |
Confidentiality Impact |
High |
| Privileges Required |
Low |
Integrity Impact |
High |
| User Interaction |
None |
Availability Impact |
High |
Authenticated pgAdmin user with tools_import_export permission. Command execution occurs in the pgAdmin process, which is the same security authority as the application itself; S:U reflects no scope change. Whether this is a privilege escalation depends on whether the attacker had other shell access to the pgAdmin host.
CVSS 3.1
CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CVSS Score: 8.7
Authenticated pgAdmin user with tools_import_export permission. Command execution occurs in the pgAdmin process, which is the same security authority as the application itself; S:U reflects no scope change. Whether this is a privilege escalation depends on whether the attacker had other shell access to the pgAdmin host.
| Exploitability Metrics |
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics |
Subsequent System Impact Metrics |
| Attack Vector |
Network |
Confidentiality |
High |
Confidentiality |
None |
| Attack Complexity |
Low |
Integrity |
High |
Integrity |
None |
| Attack Requirements |
None |
Availability |
High |
Availability |
None |
| Privileges Required |
Low |
| User Interaction |
None |
Authenticated pgAdmin user with tools_import_export permission. Command execution occurs in the pgAdmin process, which is the same security authority as the application itself; S:U reflects no scope change. Whether this is a privilege escalation depends on whether the attacker had other shell access to the pgAdmin host.
CVSS 4.0