# CVE-2026-17566: Command injection in pgAdmin 4 > Attackers with import/export permissions can execute arbitrary OS commands via psql injection due to flawed backslash handling in query validation. - **Severity:** Critical 9.4 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Any signed-in user - **Attackable:** Over the internet - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 31 Jul 2026 - **Updated:** 1 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** GHSA-3h25-h4m7-gr36 ## What is CVE-2026-17566? CVE-2026-17566 is a critical command injection vulnerability in pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4, published on 31 Jul 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim. ### Official description pgAdmin 4's Import/Export Data tool builds a psql \copy (...) command line by interpolating a user-supplied SQL query into a Jinja template and passing the rendered line to psql via --command. To stop an attacker from breaking out of the (...) wrapper, create_import_export_job() (route POST /import_export/job/, gated only by the ordinary, commonly-granted tools_import_export_data permission) validated the query with a hand-written parenthesis-balance checker, _is_query_parens_balanced(). That checker always treated a backslash before a single quote (\') as escaping the quote, i.e. as if standard_conforming_strings were off. PostgreSQL has defaulted standard_conforming_strings to on since 9.1 (2010), the default on every PostgreSQL version pgAdmin 4 currently supports (13-18); under that default psql's own \copy tokenizer treats \ as an ordinary character, so a single quote immediately after it closes the string literal. A query such as SELECT 'a\') TO PROGRAM 'echo pwned' x' was therefore accepted as "balanced" by pgAdmin's checker (which believed the ) was still inside the string), while psql, run through the actual rendered command line, closes the string at that point and treats the following ) as the end of the wrapping \copy (...) subquery, exposing an attacker-chosen TO PROGRAM '' clause that psql executes via popen() -- independent of a subsequent syntax error later on the same line. This is the same class of bug as CVE-2025-12762/CVE-2025-13780 (RCE via psql meta-command/COPY injection during PLAIN-format dump restore), reached through an independently written defense in a different module (Import/Export Data rather than Restore) that had its own, different logic bug (inverted backslash-escape semantics rather than a BOM-defeated regex anchor). The fix rejects any backslash inside a single-quoted string in the query outright, rather than picking one of the two possible psql interpretations. This is intentionally conservative: because the correct interpretation of \ depends on the target server's standard_conforming_strings setting, which the checker cannot reliably know at validation time, refusing the query is safer than guessing. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: from the introduction of _is_query_parens_balanced() before 9.18. Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command), CWE-115 (Misinterpretation of Input) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-17566? It affects 1 product. Products: Pgadmin Pgadmin 4. ## How do I fix CVE-2026-17566? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2026-17566 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-17566 in the wild and no public exploit code. Public exploit code: - pgAdmin 4 Import/Export RCE (CVE-2026-17566) PoC - TO PROGRAM injection via backslash-escape mismatch (github_poc): https://github.com/HackSpeak/CVE-2026-17566 ## Other vulnerabilities in pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4 - [CVE-2025-2945](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-2945/): pgAdmin 4: Remote Code Execution in Query Tool and Cloud Deployment (critical 9.9) - [CVE-2024-9014](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9014/): OAuth2 client id and secret exposed through the web browser in pgAdmin 4 (critical 9.9) - [CVE-2026-12046](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12046/): Deserialization in pgAdmin 4 (critical 9.5) - [CVE-2026-17351](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17351/): SQL injection in pgAdmin 4 (critical 9.4) - [CVE-2026-12045](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12045/): pgAdmin 4: AI Assistant read-only transaction bypass allows unauthorised writes and remote code execution (critical 9.4) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2026-17566 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2026-17566 is a critical command injection vulnerability in pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4, published on 31 Jul 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-17566 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: pgadmin.org pgAdmin 4. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page. Task: 1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies. 2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it. 3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead. 4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why. 5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing. Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17566/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17566/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-17566 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-17566 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-17566 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17566/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.