CVE-2026-116246 json
pgAdmin 4: Server passwords are left in pgAdmin's process environment
published 2026-10-30 9 d ago modified 2026-11-06 3 d ago also EUVD-2026-114387
- cvss
- 6.5
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 8%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
To pass a server's password to psql and to the utilities pgAdmin 4 runs as background processes, the server manager wrote it into pgAdmin's own process environment: as PGPASSWORD for the PSQL tool, and under a per-process variable for a utility. Nothing removed it afterwards. pgAdmin's environment is shared by every user's requests and copied into every process it starts, so in server mode another user's later PSQL session or utility inherited the password, and libpq used PGPASSWORD for any connection made without a password of its own, letting one user connect with another user's saved password.
The fix puts the password only into the environment built for the process that needs it and starts psql with a copy of pgAdmin's environment instead of the environment itself.
This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.
Patch / fix
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-116246 updated cvss 6.5
pgadmin4: pgAdmin 4: Credential exposure via shared process environment
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Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat productsnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 3 d ago
Exploit prediction
0.19% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 8% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N |
| CNA | 4.0 | 7.0 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:L/SA:N |
| CNA | 4.0 | 7.0 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
| NVD | 3.1 | 7.6 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N |
Affected products
- pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4
Classification
References
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-116246
- NVD CVE-2026-116246
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.
CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.