Overview
In the rapidly evolving domain of cybersecurity, it is imperative for organizations to stay up-to-date with the latest vulnerabilities and ensure their systems are safeguarded effectively. The recently identified Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) CVE-2025-55282 pertains to aiven-db-migrate, an Aiven database migration tool widely used across various sectors. This vulnerability allows a user to escalate their privileges to that of a superuser inside PostgreSQL databases during a migration from an untrusted source server. The threat this poses is significant, with potential consequences including system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-55282
Severity: Critical (CVSS Score: 9.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise and potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
aiven-db-migrate | Prior to 1.0.7
How the Exploit Works
The CVE-2025-55282 vulnerability exploits a lack of search_path restriction in the Aiven database migration tool. By manipulating this, an attacker can override pg_catalog, which is the system catalog schema of PostgreSQL. This manipulation allows the attacker to execute untrusted operators as a superuser, thereby escalating their privileges within the PostgreSQL database. This could potentially lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data or even complete system control.
Conceptual Example Code
Here is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited using a SQL query:
BEGIN;
SET search_path TO untrusted_schema, pg_catalog;
CREATE OPERATOR untrusted_schema.= (PROCEDURE = texteq, LEFTARG = text, RIGHTARG = text);
COMMIT;In the above pseudocode, the attacker sets the search_path to include the untrusted schema and then creates a new operator in this schema that could potentially run malicious code or commands.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to update the Aiven database migration tool to version 1.0.7 or later, where the issue has been fixed. If for some reason updating is not immediately possible, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could serve as a temporary mitigation measure. Additionally, organizations should always ensure to follow best security practices, such as least privilege principle and regular security audits, to prevent such vulnerabilities from being exploited.