Privilege escalation in PostgreSQL installer

1) Untrusted search path

EUVDB-ID: #VU27923

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 6.4 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2020-10733

CWE-ID: CWE-426 - Untrusted Search Path

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on he system.

The vulnerability exists due to Windows installer runs  executables from uncontrolled directories. A local user can trick the victim to install PostgreSQL from a directory that contains a malicious files and execute arbitrary code on the system with elevated privileges.

Note, this vulnerability affects Windows installer only.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

PostgreSQL: 9.0.0 - 12.2

External links

http://www.postgresql.org/about/news/2038/

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

How the attacker can exploit this vulnerability?

The attacker would have to send a specially crafted request to the affected application in order to exploit this vulnerability.

The attacker would have to login to the system and perform certain actions in order to exploit this vulnerability.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.