CVE-2026-50738
Received Received - Intake

Use-After-Free in pglogical PostgreSQL Extension

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-50738, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-07-28

Last updated on: 2026-07-28

Assigner: EnterpriseDB Corporation

Description

A use-after-free condition exists in pglogical's worker signaling code, where a worker structure can be dereferenced after the underlying slot has been freed or recycled during normal worker lifecycle events. The condition is reachable during normal replication operation, including by a low-privileged user able to influence worker start, stop, and restart timing through permitted pglogical operations. In the typical case the condition crashes replication workers, causing an availability impact. In the worst case a use-after-free in a PostgreSQL backend can be leveraged as a remote code execution primitive at the privilege of that backend.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-07-28
Last Modified
2026-07-28
Generated
2026-07-29
AI Q&A
2026-07-28
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
2ndquadrant pglogical *

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-416 The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a use-after-free flaw in pglogical's worker signaling code. It occurs when a worker structure is accessed after the underlying slot has been freed or recycled during normal operations. This can lead to crashes in replication workers, causing availability issues. In severe cases, it may allow remote code execution at the backend's privilege level.

Detection Guidance

Detection requires monitoring PostgreSQL logs for replication worker crashes or abnormal termination during pglogical operations. Check for use-after-free related errors in logs when workers restart or slots are recycled. No specific commands are provided in the context.

Impact Analysis

The impact includes replication worker crashes, leading to data synchronization failures and potential downtime. A low-privileged user with control over worker operations could trigger this flaw, causing instability. In worst cases, it may enable remote code execution, compromising the entire database backend.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to data breaches or unauthorized access, violating GDPR's integrity and confidentiality requirements. For HIPAA, it may compromise protected health information integrity. Both standards mandate safeguards against such flaws, and exploitation could result in non-compliance penalties.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the latest pglogical patch or update to a fixed version. Restrict user permissions to prevent unauthorized pglogical operations. Monitor replication workers closely for crashes or unexpected behavior.

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