---
id: "CVE-2026-116248"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-116248"]
title: "pgAdmin: non-admin users can share servers, leaking database passwords"
severity: "medium"
cvss: 6.8
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "package"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["package", "pgadmin", "postgresql", "self-hosted", "server-mode"]
not_affected_if: ["desktop-mode", "only-administrators", "single-user"]
published_at: "2026-10-30T20:17:04+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-30T20:25:37+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-30T20:26:46+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116248", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-30T20:25:37+00:00"}]
---

# pgAdmin: non-admin users can share servers, leaking database passwords

In pgAdmin 4 server mode, a non-administrator can mark a server as shared with all users through the API, even though only administrators are meant to do that. A planted server pointing at a host the attacker controls can then capture the database passwords other users send when they connect to it.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- Check the pgAdmin 4 version with `pip show pgadmin4` or the version shown in the pgAdmin About dialog; versions before `9.19` are affected.
- Look for servers marked shared in the pgAdmin server list that a non-administrator created, and review the host each one points to.

## Fix

- pgAdmin 4: `9.19` or later (the sources state the fix is in 9.19 and later).

## Timeline

- 2026-10-30T20:25:37+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116248

## From the sources

In pgAdmin 4 server mode only administrators are meant to share a server with all users; the server dialog shows the Shared switch only to them. The create and update endpoints of the server API, however, stored the "shared" flag and shared username they were sent, so any user able to register a server could share one with every other user. The servers.json import had a similar gap: a non-administrator's "Shared" entries were removed only after validation, so a file that also held an invalid entry could create a shared server.

A shared server carries no credentials, so this gives no direct access. It lets a user plant a server, named to look trusted, in every other user's tree and pointing at a host the user controls; anyone who then connects to it presents their own database password to that host.

The fix refuses a non-administrator's request that would share a server with HTTP 403, prunes a non-administrator's shared entries from a servers.json import before validating it, and warns at startup about servers shared earlier by non-administrators.

This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.

---

_Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai_