---
id: CVE-2026-116245
title: 'pgAdmin 4: Connection services are not restricted in server mode'
summary: >-
  libpq looks a connection service up in the service file of the
  operating-system account running pgAdmin 4, and an entry there can hold a
  password or name a password file or client certificate. In server mode any
  user could set a server's…
severity: high
cvss: 8.2
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-522
  - CWE-862
vendor: pgadmin.org
product: pgAdmin 4
affected:
  - pgadmin_4 < 9.19
published: '2026-10-30'
updated: '2026-10-30'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-30T19:55:15.679Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-116245'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/10654'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/commit/a0c8f4857f732c6f5e5bacf4b289b811bb5c6a06
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00157
epssPercentile: 0.04853
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T16:24:31.427Z'
---

## Overview

libpq looks a connection service up in the service file of the operating-system account running pgAdmin 4, and an entry there can hold a password or name a password file or client certificate. In server mode any user could set a server's Service, or a "service" connection parameter, to one of those entries and connect with its credentials. A PGPASSWORD or PGSERVICE variable set for that account was likewise used by libpq for every connection without a value of its own and passed on to the utilities, and pg_dumpall read a maintenance database name such as "service=..." as a connection string.

The fix adds the SERVER_MODE_ALLOWED_SERVICES setting, empty by default: in server mode only a listed service can be used, the servicefile parameter is refused, and PGPASSWORD and PGSERVICE are removed from pgAdmin's environment at startup. The allowlist is checked again on the final connection string, and the pg_dumpall database name is wrapped as a connection string.

This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.

## Affected

- `pgadmin_4 < 9.19`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.