When the server is configured to use trust authentication with a clientcert requirement or to use cert authentication, a man-in-the-middle attacker can inject arbitrary SQL queries when a connection is first established, despite the use of SSL certificate verification and encryption.

An information leak was discovered in postgresql in versions before 13.2, before 12.6 and before 11.11. A user having UPDATE permission but not SELECT permission to a particular column could craft queries which, under some circumstances, might disclose values from that column in error messages. An attacker could use this flaw to obtain information stored in a column they are allowed to write but not read.

A vulnerability was found in postgresql versions 11.x prior to 11.3. The Windows installer for EnterpriseDB-supplied PostgreSQL does not lock down the ACL of the binary installation directory or the ACL of the data directory; it keeps the inherited ACL. In the default configuration, this allows a local attacker to read arbitrary data directory files, essentially bypassing database-imposed read access limitations. In plausible non-default configurations, an attacker having both an unprivileged Windows account and an unprivileged PostgreSQL account can cause the PostgreSQL service account to execute arbitrary code.

A vulnerability was found in postgresql versions 11.x prior to 11.3. The Windows installer for BigSQL-supplied PostgreSQL does not lock down the ACL of the binary installation directory or the ACL of the data directory; it keeps the inherited ACL. In the default configuration, an attacker having both an unprivileged Windows account and an unprivileged PostgreSQL account can cause the PostgreSQL service account to execute arbitrary code. An attacker having only the unprivileged Windows account can read arbitrary data directory files, essentially bypassing database-imposed read access limitations. An attacker having only the unprivileged Windows account can also delete certain data directory files.

A flaw was found in PostgreSQL versions before 13.1, before 12.5, before 11.10, before 10.15, before 9.6.20 and before 9.5.24. An attacker having permission to create non-temporary objects in at least one schema can execute arbitrary SQL functions under the identity of a superuser. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

A flaw was found in PostgreSQL versions before 13.1, before 12.5, before 11.10, before 10.15, before 9.6.20 and before 9.5.24. If a client application that creates additional database connections only reuses the basic connection parameters while dropping security-relevant parameters, an opportunity for a man-in-the-middle attack, or the ability to observe clear-text transmissions, could exist. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

Postgresql Windows installer before versions 11.5, 10.10, 9.6.15, 9.5.19, 9.4.24 is vulnerable via bundled OpenSSL executing code from unprotected directory.

Postgresql Windows installer before versions 11.5, 10.10, 9.6.15, 9.5.19, 9.4.24 is vulnerable via superuser writing password to unprotected temporary file.

postgresql before versions 10.4, 9.6.9 is vulnerable in the adminpack extension, the pg_catalog.pg_logfile_rotate() function doesn't follow the same ACLs than pg_rorate_logfile. If the adminpack is added to a database, an attacker able to connect to it could exploit this to force log rotation.

A race condition in the postgresql init script could be used by attackers able to access the postgresql account to escalate their privileges to root.

PostgreSQL 10.x before 10.1, 9.6.x before 9.6.6, 9.5.x before 9.5.10, 9.4.x before 9.4.15, 9.3.x before 9.3.20, and 9.2.x before 9.2.24 runs under a non-root operating system account, and database superusers have effective ability to run arbitrary code under that system account. PostgreSQL provides a script for starting the database server during system boot. Packages of PostgreSQL for many operating systems provide their own, packager-authored startup implementations. Several implementations use a log file name that the database superuser can replace with a symbolic link. As root, they open(), chmod() and/or chown() this log file name. This often suffices for the database superuser to escalate to root privileges when root starts the server.

The PL/php add-on 1.4 and earlier for PostgreSQL does not properly protect script execution by a different SQL user identity within the same session, which allows remote authenticated users to gain privileges via crafted script code in a SECURITY DEFINER function, a related issue to CVE-2010-3433.

The postgresql-ocaml bindings 1.5.4, 1.7.0, and 1.12.1 for PostgreSQL libpq do not properly support the PQescapeStringConn function, which might allow remote attackers to leverage escaping issues involving multibyte character encodings.