CVE-2025-12764: 
Python vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-12764 is an LDAP injection vulnerability in pgAdmin 4's LDAP authentication flow that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. All versions of pgAdmin 4 up to and including 9.9 are affected; the issue was fixed in version 9.10. The vulnerability was reported by researcher Arad Inbar, disclosed on November 5, 2025, and published to the NVD and GitHub Advisory Database on November 13, 2025. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (High) (Github Advisory, pgAdmin Issue).

The root cause is improper neutralization of special elements in an LDAP query (CWE-90). Specifically, the username field from the pgAdmin login form is inserted directly into the LDAP search filter in web/pgadmin/authenticate/ldap.py without proper escaping or sanitization, allowing LDAP metacharacters (e.g., *, (, )) to be interpreted as LDAP syntax by the directory server. An unauthenticated attacker can submit a crafted username containing wildcard or other special LDAP characters via the login UI, causing the DC/LDAP server and the pgAdmin client to process an abnormally large volume of data, resulting in a DoS condition. No authentication or special privileges are required, and exploitation requires only network access to the pgAdmin login page (Github Advisory, pgAdmin Issue).

Successful exploitation results in a denial-of-service condition affecting both the pgAdmin application and the backend LDAP/Active Directory server, as both are forced to process an unusual volume of data. Availability is the primary impact — confidentiality and integrity are not directly affected by this vulnerability. In environments where pgAdmin is integrated with Active Directory, a sustained attack could degrade or disrupt directory services for other dependent systems, potentially broadening the operational impact beyond pgAdmin itself (Github Advisory, pgAdmin Issue).

No public proof-of-concept exploit code or active in-the-wild exploitation has been reported for CVE-2025-12764. The EPSS score is approximately 0.064% (20th percentile), indicating a low near-term exploitation probability. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Exploitation requires no authentication and no user interaction, lowering the barrier for any attacker with network access to a vulnerable pgAdmin instance configured to use LDAP authentication (Github Advisory).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify pgAdmin 4 instances (version ≤ 9.9) exposed to the network that are configured to use LDAP authentication. This can be done via Shodan, Censys, or direct browsing to the pgAdmin login page.
2. Identify LDAP authentication: Confirm that the target pgAdmin instance uses LDAP by attempting to log in and observing authentication behavior, or by reviewing any exposed configuration indicators.
3. Craft malicious username: Prepare a login request with a username containing LDAP special characters, such as * or *(|(objectClass=*)), which will be injected unsanitized into the LDAP search filter.
4. Submit crafted request: Submit the login form (or send a direct HTTP POST to the pgAdmin authentication endpoint) with the malicious username. No password is required to trigger the vulnerability.
5. Trigger DoS: The injected LDAP metacharacters cause the LDAP/AD server and pgAdmin client to execute an overly broad or recursive LDAP query, processing an abnormal volume of data and resulting in degraded or unavailable service (pgAdmin Issue, Github Advisory).

• Network: Unusual volume of LDAP queries originating from the pgAdmin server to the LDAP/AD server; repeated authentication requests to the pgAdmin login endpoint from a single or small set of source IPs.
• Logs: pgAdmin application logs showing login attempts with usernames containing special characters such as *, (, ), or |; LDAP server logs showing abnormally large or broad search queries triggered by the pgAdmin service account.
• Application Behavior: Sudden increase in LDAP server CPU or memory utilization coinciding with pgAdmin login activity; pgAdmin becoming unresponsive or slow during or after login attempts with unusual usernames.

The vulnerability is patched in pgAdmin 4 version 9.10, which introduces proper escaping of special LDAP characters in the username field before constructing the LDAP search filter. Administrators should upgrade to pgAdmin 4 v9.10 or later as the primary remediation. As a temporary workaround, organizations can restrict network access to the pgAdmin login page to trusted IP ranges, or disable LDAP authentication if it is not required. Fedora and SUSE Linux packages have also released updated pgadmin4 packages incorporating the fix (Github Advisory, pgAdmin Issue).

The vulnerability was noted in security community digests and weekly threat landscape summaries following its November 13, 2025 disclosure. The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) issued an advisory referencing pgAdmin vulnerabilities and urging patching. Security news outlets such as SecurityOnline.info covered the broader set of pgAdmin 4 v9.10 fixes, including this CVE alongside the more critical CVE-2025-12762. Community discussion was limited, reflecting the moderate severity and narrow exploitation scope of this specific issue.