{"id":"CVE-2026-116238","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-116238"],"related":[],"title":"pgAdmin 4: login lockout bypass allows unlimited password guessing on server mode","description":"In server mode pgAdmin 4 locks an internal account after MAX_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS failed logins (3 by default). The limit could be bypassed, giving an unauthenticated attacker an unlimited number of password guesses against any internal account, including the administrator's, in the default configuration:\n\n- Flask-Security registers its own views next to pgAdmin's. A login submitted to its /login view was checked and logged in without pgAdmin's failed login count or lock. Its /verify view checked a signed-in user's password without limit, its /change view changed a password without pgAdmin's change password permission or re-encrypting the user's saved server passwords, and its /reset views sent and applied password resets for accounts that are not internal or are locked.\n- The internal account was looked up by its exact username, while the login form matches the email ignoring case, so a login with the username typed in another case was neither counted nor checked for the lock.\n- With LDAP or webserver authentication also configured, a wrong internal password was never counted, and with Kerberos or webserver authentication configured a guess could be answered without being counted.\n\nIn addition, where accounts from different authentication sources share an email address, a password reset could be sent for, or applied to, an account from another source, and the About box showed the server configuration to a user whose email was that of an administrator's account.\n\nThe fix refuses submissions to Flask-Security's own views, counts every failed internal login however the username is typed and whatever other sources are configured, no longer lets a login that posts a password fall back to an authentication source that does not check it, and locks only internal authentication. Password resets and the About box act only on the user's own internal account. Desktop mode is not affected.\n\nThis issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.","summary":"In pgAdmin 4 server mode, Flask-Security's own login, verify, change and reset views skip pgAdmin's failed-login counter and lockout, and mixed-case usernames are also not counted. An unauthenticated attacker can make unlimited password guesses against any internal account, including the administrator's.","severity":"critical","cvss":9.2,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["package","pgadmin","postgresql","self-hosted","server-mode"],"not_affected_if":["desktop-mode","not-internet-exposed"],"how_to_check":"- Check the installed pgAdmin 4 version, for example `pgadmin4 --version` or the version shown in the About box\n- Confirm whether pgAdmin 4 runs in server mode rather than desktop mode\n- Check whether the pgAdmin server is reachable from the network, since the flaw is triggered over HTTP","fix":"- pgAdmin 4: upgrade to `9.19` or later (the sources say the issue affects versions before 9.19)","status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-30T20:17:02+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-30T20:25:37+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-30T20:26:10+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-30T20:26:10+00:00","category":"package","confidence":0.85,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-30T20:26:10Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- pgAdmin 4: upgrade to `9.19` or later (the sources say the issue affects versions before 9.19)","reach":"internet","title":"pgAdmin 4: login lockout bypass allows unlimited password guessing on server mode","impact":"high","summary":"In pgAdmin 4 server mode, Flask-Security's own login, verify, change and reset views skip pgAdmin's failed-login counter and lockout, and mixed-case usernames are also not counted. An unauthenticated attacker can make unlimited password guesses against any internal account, including the administrator's.","audience":"businesses","category":"package","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["pgadmin","self-hosted","postgresql","server-mode"],"confidence":0.85,"fix_status":"available","needs_auth":"no","worst_case":"attacker guesses admin password without limit, then takes over pgAdmin","analyst_note":"Confirm the fixed version in the pgAdmin release notes or NVD entry (https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116238) and whether the sources list any exploitation.","how_to_check":"- Check the installed pgAdmin 4 version, for example `pgadmin4 --version` or the version shown in the About box\n- Confirm whether pgAdmin 4 runs in server mode rather than desktop mode\n- Check whether the pgAdmin server is reachable from the network, since the flaw is triggered over HTTP","plain_action":"","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["desktop-mode","not-internet-exposed"],"who_is_affected":"Teams running pgAdmin 4 in server mode, typically a shared web-hosted instance used by several people to manage databases. Desktop mode is not affected, so single-user desktop installs can skip it. Instances reachable only on a private network are lower exposure but still in scope.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"no","severity_if_unknown":"critical"},"cost_usd":0.000796,"input_tokens":4594,"output_tokens":674,"severity_before":"critical"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-116238':15A,18A '-2026':14A,17A '/change':167C '/login':138C '/reset':190C '/verify':154C '3':92C '4':2A,30B,81C,395C '9.19':397C 'account':73B,85C,113C,198C,208C,275C,295C,318C,385C 'act':377C 'addit':273C 'address':283C 'administr':76B,116C,316C 'affect':390C,393C 'allow':6A 'also':59B,248C 'anoth':233C,297C 'answer':268C 'appli':194C,292C 'attack':64B,103C 'attempt':89C 'authent':247C,262C,278C,359C,370C 'back':356C 'box':302C,376C 'bypass':5A,99C 'case':56B,224C,234C 'chang':40B,169C,175C 'check':141C,156C,239C,364C 'configur':121C,249C,263C,306C,345C 'could':97C,266C,287C 'count':61B,150C,237C,256C,271C,330C 'counter':50B 'cve':13A,16A 'default':94C,120C 'desktop':386C 'differ':277C 'email':222C,282C,311C 'encrypt':181C 'everi':331C 'exact':214C 'fail':48B,90C,148C,332C 'failed-login':47B 'fall':355C 'fix':320C 'flask':34B,123C,325C 'flask-secur':33B,122C,324C 'form':219C 'give':100C 'guess':9A,69B,109C,265C 'host':24B 'howev':335C 'ignor':223C 'includ':74B,114C 'intern':72B,84C,112C,202C,207C,252C,333C,369C,384C 'issu':392C 'kerbero':259C 'ldap':244C 'let':348C 'limit':96C,165C 'lock':82C,152C,205C,242C,367C 'lockout':4A,52B 'log':143C 'login':3A,38B,49B,88C,91C,134C,149C,218C,227C,334C,350C 'longer':347C 'look':210C 'make':66B 'match':220C 'max':87C 'mix':55B 'mixed-cas':54B 'mode':12A,27B,32B,79C,387C 'neither':236C 'never':255C 'next':129C 'number':106C 'packag':19B 'password':8A,68B,108C,163C,171C,176C,187C,195C,253C,285C,354C,371C 'permiss':177C 'pgadmin':1A,20B,29B,45B,80C,131C,146C,173C,394C 'post':352C 'postgresql':21B 're':180C 're-encrypt':179C 'refus':321C 'regist':125C 'reset':42B,196C,286C,372C 'save':185C 'secur':35B,124C,326C 'self':23B 'self-host':22B 'sent':192C,289C 'server':11A,26B,31B,78C,186C,305C 'server-mod':25B 'share':280C 'show':303C 'sign':159C 'signed-in':158C 'skip':44B 'sourc':279C,298C,343C,360C 'submiss':322C 'submit':135C 'type':231C,339C 'unauthent':63B,102C 'unlimit':7A,67B,105C 'user':161C,183C,309C,381C 'usernam':57B,215C,230C,337C 'verifi':39B 'view':43B,128C,139C,155C,168C,191C,329C 'webserv':246C,261C 'whatev':341C 'whose':310C 'without':145C,164C,172C,269C 'wrong':251C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Teams running pgAdmin 4 in server mode, typically a shared web-hosted instance used by several people to manage databases. Desktop mode is not affected, so single-user desktop installs can skip it. Instances reachable only on a private network are lower exposure but still in scope.","tier":"B","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"available","audience":"businesses","plain_action":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-30T20:17:02+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X","cvss_by":"f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-116238","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116238","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-30T20:17:02+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-30T20:17:02+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-30T20:25:37+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-30T20:25:37+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}