CVE-2026-18408
Untrusted data inclusion in pg_dump in PostgreSQL allows a malicious superuser of the origin server to inject arbitrary code for restore-time execution as the client operating system account running psql to restore the dump, via psql \restrict meta-command input expansion. The fix for CVE-2025-8714 introduced \restrict and \unrestrict to block this attack, but \unrestrict itself was sufficient for an attack. pg_dumpall is also affected. pg_restore is affected when used to generate a plain-format dump. Non-core use of \restrict would be affected, but we've not identified non-core use. Versions before PostgreSQL 18.5, 17.11, 16.15, 15.19, and 14.24 are affected.
What this means
- Exposure
- Exploitable remotely over the network and without authentication — but only if a user opens booby-trapped content.
- Impact
- An attacker can read sensitive data, modify or destroy data and take the service offline.
- Weakness
- Code from an untrusted source is loaded and executed.
- Likelihood
- Its EPSS score stays low: nothing points to imminent exploitation, which is no reason to leave it unpatched.
What to doFold into the next patch cycle.
Read automatically from the CVSS vector, the weakness type (CWE) and the EPSS score. The technical description above remains the one published by NIST.