CVE-2025-55282
📋 TL;DR
A privilege escalation vulnerability in aiven-db-migrate allows attackers to gain superuser privileges in PostgreSQL databases during migrations from untrusted source servers. By exploiting insufficient search_path restrictions, attackers can override pg_catalog and execute arbitrary operators with elevated permissions. This affects organizations using aiven-db-migrate versions before 1.0.7 for database migrations.
💻 Affected Systems
- aiven-db-migrate
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of PostgreSQL databases with superuser access, allowing data theft, destruction, or persistence through backdoors.
Likely Case
Unauthorized privilege escalation during database migrations, potentially leading to data exposure or manipulation.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if migrations only occur between trusted environments with proper access controls.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires access to initiate or influence database migrations from untrusted sources.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.0.7
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/aiven/aiven-db-migrate/security/advisories/GHSA-hmvf-93r4-36f9
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update aiven-db-migrate to version 1.0.7 or later using package manager. 2. Verify the update with 'aiven-db-migrate --version'. 3. No service restart required as this is a command-line tool.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict migration sources
allOnly migrate databases from trusted, verified source servers
Manual search_path restriction
allExplicitly set search_path in migration scripts to prevent pg_catalog override
SET search_path TO 'public';
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Discontinue use of aiven-db-migrate for migrations from untrusted sources
- Implement strict network segmentation between migration tools and untrusted databases
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check aiven-db-migrate version with 'aiven-db-migrate --version' and compare to 1.0.7Check Version:
aiven-db-migrate --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 1.0.7 or higher with 'aiven-db-migrate --version'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected superuser privilege grants during migrations
- Unusual operator executions in PostgreSQL logs
Network Indicators:
- Database migration traffic from untrusted sources
SIEM Query:
source="postgresql" AND (event="privilege escalation" OR event="superuser creation")