pgAdmin 4: SQL injection in COMMENT ON ... IS '<description>' rendering across dialog templates
Description
SQL injection in pgAdmin 4 across every dialog template that renders `COMMENT ON ... IS '' for a user-supplied description field. The Jinja templates for Domains (and their constraints), Foreign Tables, Languages, and Event Triggers, plus the Views OID-lookup query, interpolated the description directly inside a single-quoted SQL literal -- '{{ data.description }}' -- instead of passing it through the qtLiteral escape filter. An authenticated pgAdmin user with permission to create or alter the affected object types could submit a description containing an apostrophe, break out of the literal and chain arbitrary SQL. The injected SQL runs under the PostgreSQL role the user is already authenticated as; for a connected role with COPY ... TO/FROM PROGRAM` (typically PostgreSQL superuser), this chains to OS command execution on the PostgreSQL host. The defect does not cross a privilege boundary -- the user already has direct SQL access to that role through pgAdmin's Query Tool -- so the attacker gains no capability beyond what their database role already grants. The marginal impact captures bypass of any application-layer Query Tool gating an operator may have configured.
The defect was originally reported against the Domain Dialog `description field; a code-wide audit identified sixteen sites of the same pattern across the templates listed above. The same review also surfaced ten related sinks in the pgstattuple/pgstatindex stats templates -- pgstattuple('{{schema}}.{{table}}') and the matching pgstatindex shape -- where qtIdent escapes embedded double quotes inside the identifier but not apostrophes, so a user with CREATE privilege on a schema could plant a table or index named foo'bar` and a later stats viewer would render an unbalanced literal.
Fix is layered:
- Sites: replace every `
'{{ x.description }}'with{{ x.description|qtLiteral(conn) }}(no surrounding quotes -- the filter wraps the value in escaped quotes itself). Plumbconn=self.connthrough everyrender_templatecall that loads one of these templates. Also corrects a{ % elifJinja typo in the foreign-table schema diff (dead branch). Rewrite the ten pgstattuple/pgstatindex stats sites to address the relation via OID +::oid::regclasscast (e.g.pgstattuple({{ tid }}::oid::regclass)`), eliminating the embedded literal-call form entirely so that bug-class can no longer recur there.
- Driver hardening: `
qtLiteral(inutils/driver/psycopg3/__init__.py) used to silently return the raw unescaped value when itsconnargument was falsy. It now raisesValueError-- surfacing the entire bug class going forward. The change immediately uncovered eight latent plumbing bugs (inschemas/__init__.py,schemas/functions/__init__.py,schemas/tables/utils.py,foreign_servers/__init__.py, and seven sites inroles/__init__.py) -- all fixed as part of this patch. The innerexcept` block that swallowed adapter-level failures and returned the raw value is also removed, so unadaptable inputs raise instead of leaking unescaped values.
- Regression tests: a per-template behavioural test renders each previously-vulnerable template with an apostrophe-injection payload and asserts the escaped fragment is present and the vulnerable fragment absent; a lint test walks every `
*.sqltemplate flagging any'{{ ... }}'` single-quote-wrapped interpolation against an explicit allowlist; unit tests cover the new qtLiteral fail-fast and inner-except raise paths.
This issue affects pgAdmin 4: from 1.0 before 9.16.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Affected products
2>= 1.0, < 9.16+ 1 more
- (no CPE)range: >= 1.0, < 9.16
- (no CPE)range: >=1.0, <9.16
Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"Jinja SQL templates interpolate user-supplied description fields directly inside single-quoted SQL literals (`'{{ data.description }}'`) without passing them through the `qtLiteral` escape filter, allowing apostrophe-based breakout."
Attack vector
An authenticated pgAdmin user with permission to create or alter the affected object types (Domain, Foreign Table, Language, Event Trigger, or View) submits a description containing an apostrophe through the corresponding dialog. The Jinja template interpolates the description directly inside a single-quoted SQL literal (`'{{ data.description }}'`) without passing it through the `qtLiteral` escape filter, allowing the attacker to break out of the literal and chain arbitrary SQL. For the `pgstattuple`/`pgstatindex` sinks, a low-privilege user with `CREATE` privilege on a schema can plant a table or index named `foo'bar`; any viewer who opens that object's stats panel triggers SQL execution under the viewer's role. The injected SQL runs under the PostgreSQL role the user is already authenticated as; for a role with `COPY ... TO/FROM PROGRAM` (typically superuser), this chains to OS command execution on the PostgreSQL host. [ref_id=1] [ref_id=2]
Affected code
The vulnerability spans sixteen Jinja SQL templates that render `COMMENT ON ... IS '<description>'` for Domains, Domain Constraints, Foreign Tables, Languages, and Event Triggers, plus the Views OID-lookup query. A second class of ten sinks exists in the `pgstattuple`/`pgstatindex` stats templates (e.g., `tables/sql/default/stats.sql`, `indexes/sql/default/stats.sql`, `exclusion_constraint/sql/default/stats.sql`, `index_constraint/sql/default/stats.sql`, and their `16_plus` variants, plus `mviews/pg/default/sql/stats.sql` and `mviews/ppas/default/sql/stats.sql`). The fix also corrects a `{ % elif` Jinja typo in the foreign-table schema diff template and hardens `qtLiteral` in `utils/driver/psycopg3/__init__.py`.
What the fix does
The fix replaces every `'{{ x.description }}'` pattern with `{{ x.description|qtLiteral(conn) }}` (no surrounding quotes — the filter wraps the value in properly escaped quotes itself) and plumbs `conn=self.conn` through every `render_template` call that loads one of these templates. For the ten `pgstattuple`/`pgstatindex` stats sinks, the relation is now addressed via `{{ tid }}::oid::regclass` instead of an embedded string literal, eliminating the bug class structurally. The `qtLiteral` function in `utils/driver/psycopg3/__init__.py` is hardened to raise `ValueError` when `conn` is falsy (instead of silently returning the raw unescaped value), and the inner `except` block that swallowed adapter-level failures is removed. A `{ % elif` Jinja typo in the foreign-table schema diff is also corrected. [ref_id=1] [ref_id=2] [patch_id=6590911] [patch_id=6590912]
Preconditions
- authAttacker must be an authenticated pgAdmin user.
- configFor the COMMENT description vector: attacker must have permission to create or alter the affected object type (Domain, Foreign Table, Language, Event Trigger, or View).
- configFor the pgstattuple/pgstatindex vector: attacker must have CREATE privilege on a schema to plant a table or index with an apostrophe in its name.
- inputAttacker submits a description or object name containing an apostrophe through the pgAdmin dialog.
Generated on Jun 19, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
3- github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/commit/2ae0d3610mitrepatch
- github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/commit/658bb585dmitrepatch
- github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/10078mitreissue-tracking
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