CVE-2026-12044: pgAdmin 4: SQL injection in COMMENT ON ... IS '<description>' rendering across dialog templates
SQL injection in pgAdmin 4 across every dialog template that renders COMMENT ON ... IS '<description>' 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:
1. Sites: replace every '{{ x.description }}' with {{ x.description|qtLiteral(conn) }} (no surrounding quotes -- the filter wraps the value in escaped quotes itself). Plumb conn=self.conn through every rendertemplate call that loads one of these templates. Also corrects a { % elif Jinja typo in the foreign-table schema diff (dead branch). Rewrite the ten pgstattuple/pgstatindex stats sites to address the relation via OID + ::oid::regclass cast (e.g. pgstattuple({{ tid }}::oid::regclass)), eliminating the embedded literal-call form entirely so that bug-class can no longer recur there.
2. Driver hardening: qtLiteral (in utils/driver/psycopg3/init.py) used to silently return the raw unescaped value when its conn argument was falsy. It now raises ValueError -- surfacing the entire bug class going forward. The change immediately uncovered eight latent plumbing bugs (in schemas/init.py, schemas/functions/init.py, schemas/tables/utils.py, foreignservers/init.py, and seven sites in roles/init.py) -- all fixed as part of this patch. The inner except block that swallowed adapter-level failures and returned the raw value is also removed, so unadaptable inputs raise instead of leaking unescaped values.
3. 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 .sql template 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.
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade
pgAdmin 4to a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 9.16 - Configuration
In the templates for Domains (and constraints), Foreign Tables, Languages, and Event Triggers, and in all dialog templates that render COMMENT ON ... with user-supplied descriptions, replace single-quoted SQL-literal interpolation such as ' {{ data.description }} ' / ' {{ x.description }} ' with qtLiteral escaping: use {{ x.description|qtLiteral(conn) }} (and do not add surrounding quotes because qtLiteral wraps the value in escaped quotes itself).
pgAdmin 4 Jinja templates (description fields) description interpolation pattern = Replace all occurrences of '{{ data.description }}' and '{{ x.description }}' (single-quote-wrapped) with escaped rendering using qtLiteral - Configuration
Plumb conn=self.conn through every render_template call that loads these vulnerable templates, so the qtLiteral filter can access the connection and properly escape/validate.
pgAdmin 4 template rendering plumbing conn argument passed to render_template = conn=self.conn - Configuration
Change qtLiteral so that when its conn argument is falsy it raises ValueError (fail-fast) rather than silently returning the raw unescaped value. Also remove the inner except block that swallowed adapter-level failures and returned the raw value; unadaptable inputs must raise instead of leaking unescaped values.
pgAdmin 4 qtLiteral filter (utils/driver/psycopg3/__init__.py) qtLiteral behavior when conn is falsy = Raise ValueError instead of returning raw value - Configuration
Rewrite the ten pgstattuple/pgstatindex stats sites to address the relation via OID + ::oid::regclass cast (e.g., pgstattuple({{ tid }}::oid::regclass)), eliminating the embedded literal-call form entirely so the same apostrophe-literal issue cannot recur.
pgAdmin 4 pgstattuple/pgstatindex stats templates stats site SQL construction = Rewrite using OID + ::oid::regclass cast
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2026-12044?
CVE-2026-12044 has a high severity rating of 8.8.
How do I fix CVE-2026-12044?
To fix CVE-2026-12044, update pgAdmin 4 to the latest version that addresses the SQL injection vulnerability.
What vulnerabilities are associated with CVE-2026-12044?
CVE-2026-12044 is associated with SQL injection vulnerabilities that can be exploited through user-supplied inputs in dialog templates.
What impact does CVE-2026-12044 have on data security?
CVE-2026-12044 can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data through SQL injection attacks.
Which software is affected by CVE-2026-12044?
CVE-2026-12044 affects pgAdmin 4 that utilizes Jinja templates for rendering user inputs.