CVE-2026-116242: pgAdmin 4: SSH tunnels use the pgAdmin service account's own SSH identity

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-116242 is a high (CVSS 8.2) Insufficiently Protected Credentials vulnerability in pgadmin.org pgadmin 4. EPSS estimates a 0.23% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 14.1% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 30-10-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.

Description

pgAdmin 4 opens SSH tunnels with the sshtunnel library but gave it neither host_pkey_directories nor ssh_config_file, so it always loaded the unencrypted private keys in ~/.ssh of the operating-system account running pgAdmin, read that account's ~/.ssh/config (IdentityFile, User, HostName, ProxyCommand) for the tunnel host, and could use its ssh-agent. In server mode any user could therefore configure a tunnel to a host that accepts the service account's key, with no credentials of their own or with an identity file that did not exist in their storage, and reach it as that account. The fix makes tunnels in server mode use only the identity file or password the user configured: the service account's keys, configuration and agent are no longer used, and an identity file that cannot be found in the user's storage is reported instead of falling back to ~/.ssh. Desktop mode is unchanged. This issue affects pgAdmin 4: before 9.19.

• CWE-522Insufficiently Protected CredentialsThe product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.
• CWE-1188Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure DefaultThe product initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the product's installer, administrator, or maintainer, but the default is not secure.