Overview
CVE-2025-12765 identifies a high-severity vulnerability in pgAdmin versions 9.9 and earlier. This flaw resides within the LDAP authentication mechanism and allows attackers to potentially bypass TLS certificate verification, leading to unauthorized access. This vulnerability was published on 2025-11-13T13:15:45.037.
Technical Details
The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of TLS certificates during the LDAP authentication process. When pgAdmin attempts to authenticate against an LDAP server over TLS/SSL, the application may not correctly verify the server’s certificate. This can allow a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacker to present a fraudulent certificate and intercept or modify communications between pgAdmin and the LDAP server. By presenting an invalid certificate, an attacker could potentially trick pgAdmin into authenticating against a malicious LDAP server or intercept credentials.
CVSS Analysis
This vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH).
- Attack Vector: Network
- Attack Complexity: High
- Privileges Required: None
- User Interaction: None
- Scope: Unchanged
- Confidentiality Impact: High
- Integrity Impact: High
- Availability Impact: None
The high CVSS score reflects the potential for remote exploitation without requiring any privileges or user interaction, and the high impact on confidentiality and integrity.
Possible Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could have severe consequences, including:
- Authentication Bypass: Attackers could gain unauthorized access to pgAdmin instances, potentially leading to full control of the database server being managed.
- Data Breach: Sensitive database credentials stored within pgAdmin could be compromised, leading to a data breach.
- Man-in-the-Middle Attacks: An attacker could intercept and modify communications between pgAdmin and the LDAP server.
- Compromised Database Servers: Attackers could leverage compromised pgAdmin access to gain access to, and potentially compromise, connected database servers.
Mitigation or Patch Steps
The recommended mitigation is to upgrade to a patched version of pgAdmin that addresses this vulnerability. Please check the pgAdmin website for the latest version. Until an upgrade is possible, consider these steps:
- Upgrade pgAdmin: The most effective solution is to upgrade to a version of pgAdmin later than 9.9, that contains the necessary fix for this vulnerability. Check the official pgAdmin website for updates.
- Restrict Network Access: Limit network access to the pgAdmin instance to only trusted sources to reduce the attack surface.
- Monitor Network Traffic: Implement network monitoring to detect any suspicious activity related to LDAP authentication attempts.
- Enable TLS Properly (If Possible): Ensure the LDAP server is configured to enforce proper TLS certificate validation and is using a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). However, due to the vulnerability, even proper LDAP server configuration may not fully prevent exploitation in affected pgAdmin versions.