Synced 30 Sept 2026 20:54 UTC Account
← All products

CVE-2017-12172

MEDIUM severity · CVSS 6.7 · CWE-59
6.7CVSS MEDIUM

Summary

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.

Impact & exploitability

Attack vectorLocal
Attack complexityLow
Privileges requiredHigh
User interactionNone
Confidentiality impactHigh
Integrity impactHigh
Availability impactHigh
Exploit probability (EPSS)1%

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products we track (1)

PostgreSQL

Recommendation

Apply the vendor fix in your normal patch cycle. Open any affected product above for its exact safe version.

Additional information