CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2025-46801NVD status: Deferred

Pgpool-II: Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2025-46801 is a critical-severity authentication bypass by primary weakness vulnerability in Pgpool-II from PgPool Global Development Group, with a CVSS 4.0 base score of 9.3 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected Pgpool-II versions: 4.6.0; 4.5.0 to 4.5.6; 4.4.0 to 4.4.11, and others listed below. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.91% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 61% of scored CVEs.

Patch this week

Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.

What to do

  1. Check which version of Pgpool-II you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
  2. Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
PgPool Global Development GroupPgpool-II4.6.0; 4.5.0 to 4.5.6; 4.4.0 to 4.4.11; 4.3.0 to 4.3.14; 4.2.0 to 4.2.21; All versions of 4.1 series; All versions of 4.0 seriesNot stated

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Attack requirements
NoneThe attack does not depend on a particular deployment or configuration.
Privileges required
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
HighSerious loss of confidentiality on the vulnerable system.
Integrity (vulnerable system)
HighSerious loss of integrity on the vulnerable system.
Availability (vulnerable system)
HighSerious loss of availability on the vulnerable system.
Confidentiality (other systems)
NoneNo loss of confidentiality on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Integrity (other systems)
NoneNo loss of integrity on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Availability (other systems)
NoneNo loss of availability on systems beyond the vulnerable one.

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X. Scored by CNA (jpcert.or.jp).

Scoring systemScoreSeverityScored by
CVSS 4.09.3CriticalCNA (jpcert.or.jp)
CVSS 3.09.8CriticalCNA (jpcert.or.jp)

Official description

Pgpool-II provided by PgPool Global Development Group contains an authentication bypass by primary weakness vulnerability. if the vulnerability is exploited, an attacker may be able to log in to the system as an arbitrary user, allowing them to read or tamper with data in the database, and/or disable the database.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness

The authentication algorithm is sound, but the implemented mechanism can be bypassed as the result of a separate weakness that is primary to the authentication error.

More Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness vulnerabilities (CWE-305)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Other vulnerabilities in Pgpool-II

All Pgpool-II vulnerabilities

Recent Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness vulnerabilities

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