CVE-2026-116246

MEDIUM CVSS 6.5
Published: 2026-10-30
Modified: 2026-10-30
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AI Threat Summary

CVE-2026-116246 is a moderate vulnerability with a CVSS score of 6.5 affecting the target software. Threat hunters should monitor for exploit attempts and apply vendor patches immediately.

Description

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.

Attack Chain
1
Reconnaissance

Attacker scans for vulnerable versions using version banners or PoC scanners

2
Initial Access

Attacker triggers CVE-2026-116246 vulnerability with a crafted request or payload

3
Execution

Vulnerability exploited to perform unauthorized actions on the target system

4
Impact

Depending on vulnerability type, attacker achieves data access, service disruption, or code execution

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
Initial Access

Public-facing application vulnerability exploited for initial access

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution
Execution

Vulnerability exploited to execute attacker-controlled code

Indicators of Compromise
Type Value Description
user_agent Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; exploit/1.0) Generic exploit scanner user agent pattern
url /api/vuln-endpoint?payload=<malicious> Exploit attempt against application endpoint — monitor access logs for anomalous params
Remediation
1. Apply vendor-supplied security patches immediately. 2. If patches are unavailable, apply recommended mitigations from the vendor advisory. 3. Enable WAF rules or IDS signatures to detect exploitation attempts. 4. Monitor logs for indicators of compromise listed above. 5. Implement network segmentation to limit blast radius if exploitation occurs. 6. Subscribe to vendor security advisories for this product.
Quick Facts
CVE ID CVE-2026-116246
CVSS Score 6.5
Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N
Published 2026-10-30
Exploited No
CISA KEV No
PoC Not public
References
External Resources
NVD Entry BleepingComputer The Hacker News