CVE-2026-46624: Local Privilege Escalation in Aiven aiven-extras
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| CVE ID | CVE-2026-46624 |
| CVSS v3.1 | 9.8 (Critical) |
| Attack vector | CVSS says AV:N; vendor/NVD description says local privilege escalation |
| Authentication required | CVSS says PR:N; operationally, defenders should assume a local foothold is needed because the flaw is described as LPE |
| Patch status | Fixed in Aiven for PostgreSQL 1.1.20 and Aiven for Valkey 1.0.7 |
TL;DR - Critical permissions flaw in
aiven-extrascan enable privilege escalation. - Affects Aiven for PostgreSQL before 1.1.20 and Valkey before 1.0.7. - Upgrade now; no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation or public PoC is known.
What Happened and Why It Matters
CVE-2026-46624 is a critical vulnerability in Aiven’s aiven-extras package. The flaw affects Aiven for PostgreSQL before 1.1.20 and Aiven for Valkey before 1.0.7. The issue is rooted in incorrect ownership and permissions on files copied from aiven-db-migrate to /run during startup, which maps to CWE-276: Incorrect Default Permissions.
For defenders, the practical concern is not just the headline CVSS score of 9.8, but the location and timing of the bug. Files created or copied into /run during service startup often play a role in runtime coordination, sockets, PID handling, or privilege transitions. If those files are created with unsafe permissions or ownership, a local attacker may be able to tamper with them, replace them, or leverage them to escalate privileges. Even when no internet-exposed exploit chain is known, this kind of startup-time permissions bug can materially increase post-compromise impact.
There is one important nuance: the CVSS vector published by NVD is AV:N/PR:N/UI:N, which implies remote, unauthenticated exploitation, while the description explicitly characterizes the issue as local privilege escalation. Because those two signals do not fully align, defenders should avoid over-interpreting the vector alone. In practice, absent a vendor advisory with more detail, the safer operational assumption is that an attacker would typically need some local code execution or shell access first to exploit the permissions flaw.
Exploitation Status: What is Known and Unknown
As of 2026-05-26, there is no confirmed CISA KEV listing for CVE-2026-46624. The research note indicates on_kev: false, with no date added, no due date, and no KEV-required action. That means there is no KEV-backed confirmation of active exploitation in the wild at this time.
There is also no confirmed public proof of concept identified from the available sources. The NVD references include a GitHub Security Advisory and a patch commit, but those pages were not retrievable in the research environment used for this note. A GitLab advisory index corroborates the package and fixed version information, but it does not establish exploitation status. So the correct statement today is: no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation, and no confirmed public PoC is known from the sources reviewed.
That said, defenders should not confuse “no confirmed exploitation” with “low risk.” Local privilege escalation flaws are frequently used after initial access, not as initial access. If an attacker already has code execution as a low-privilege user, this class of bug can convert a limited compromise into a full host compromise. In mixed-trust environments, even a purely local bug can become a high-priority patch item because it changes blast radius and containment assumptions.
Affected Products and Fixed Versions
The affected version ranges available from the NVD record are specific and should be used for scoping. The vulnerable products are:
| Product | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|
| Aiven for PostgreSQL | before 1.1.20 | 1.1.20 |
| Aiven for Valkey | before 1.0.7 | 1.0.7 |
If you run either product and your deployment falls below those version thresholds, you should treat the instance as exposed until you validate remediation. The available data does not currently provide a narrower sub-range, nor does it identify platform-specific exceptions. In the absence of more detailed vendor guidance, assume all releases before those fixed versions are affected.
This matters especially in environments with shared hosts, container breakouts, privileged service accounts, or automation that executes startup hooks. A local privilege escalation bug is often most dangerous where there is already a low-privilege foothold available to an attacker, whether through another application flaw, a compromised CI/CD runner, weak SSH hygiene, or access by an untrusted tenant or support account.
Technical Notes
Use version inventory first. If package metadata or container labels are available, identify instances running versions below the fixed thresholds.
# Example: inspect image/package metadata where available
aiven-extras --version 2>/dev/null || true
# Example: PostgreSQL package or service version context
dpkg -l | egrep 'aiven|postgres|valkey' || true
rpm -qa | egrep 'aiven|postgres|valkey' || true
# Example: container image inspection
docker ps --format 'table {{.Names}} {{.Image}}'
docker inspect <container> --format '{{.Config.Image}}'
Also validate runtime file ownership and mode bits under /run after service startup, especially for files associated with aiven-db-migrate or service initialization.
# Enumerate suspicious runtime files
find /run -xdev ( -type f -o -type s -o -type p ) -ls | egrep 'aiven|db-migrate|postgres|valkey'
# Show ownership and permissions recursively for likely paths
namei -l /run
stat -c '%A %a %U:%G %n' /run/* 2>/dev/null | egrep 'aiven|postgres|valkey'
Risk Prioritization for Security Teams
This CVE should be prioritized as a high-severity post-compromise risk even though public exploitation is not confirmed. The contradiction between the CVSS vector and the textual description makes precision difficult, but the safer defender stance is straightforward: if an attacker can reach a low-privilege execution context on the host, this bug may help them move higher.
For SMBs and lean IT teams, the key question is whether these services run on systems where multiple users, workloads, or automation jobs coexist. If yes, accelerate patching. For larger teams, add host-level telemetry around /run, review service startup scripts, and confirm that your hardening baselines detect risky file modes and ownership drift in transient runtime directories.
Additional Resources
For further understanding of security concepts related to this vulnerability, you can check out our articles on What is Broken Access Control and How MFA Helps When Passwords Are Stolen.
This article may contain affiliate links. We earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Detection and Investigation Guidance
Start with exposure assessment, then move to runtime artifact inspection. Because the published description specifically mentions files copied from aiven-db-migrate into /run during startup, detection should focus on startup events, file creation under /run, unexpected ownership/mode changes, and suspicious interaction with service runtime files. On Linux, auditd, EDR telemetry, and systemd logs are your best first sources.
Investigators should look for signs that non-privileged users or unexpected processes interacted with Aiven-related files in /run. You should also review whether any files under /run ended up writable by unintended users or groups, owned by the wrong account, or replaced shortly after service start. Since no public exploit chain is available, defenders should baseline normal startup behavior and flag deviations rather than relying on a single IOC.
Technical Notes
A concrete Linux log and audit approach is to monitor creation and permission changes under /run during service startup:
# Search recent journal entries around service startup
journalctl --since "24 hours ago" | egrep -i 'aiven|db-migrate|postgres|valkey|permission|chmod|chown|run/'
# If auditd is enabled, search for chmod/chown/open events on /run
ausearch -k run-perms -ts recent
ausearch -f /run -ts recent | egrep 'aiven|postgres|valkey'
Example auditd rules to add while investigating:
# Watch for writes and attribute changes under /run
auditctl -w /run -p wa -k run-perms
# Optional: focus on execs of relevant binaries if paths are known
auditctl -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F dir=/run -k run-exec
Example suspicious patterns to look for in logs or telemetry:
type=PATH msg=audit(...): item=0 name="/run/<suspect-file>" inode=... mode=0100666 ouid=0 ogid=0
type=SYSCALL msg=audit(...): comm="chmod" exe="/usr/bin/chmod" success=yes ...
type=SYSCALL msg=audit(...): comm="chown" exe="/usr/bin/chown" success=yes ...
systemd[1]: Starting ...
<service>[PID]: copying ... from aiven-db-migrate to /run/...
A simple filesystem check for dangerous permissions is also worthwhile:
# World-writable files under /run are high-signal
find /run -xdev -type f -perm -0002 -ls
# Files not owned by expected service/root accounts
find /run -xdev ( -type f -o -type s ) ! -user root -ls | egrep 'aiven|postgres|valkey'
If you use an EDR or SIEM, translate this into a detection query for file create / file permission change events in /run associated with service startup. Exact syntax varies by platform, so do not copy a generic rule blindly; map it to your telemetry schema.
Mitigation and Patching
The primary mitigation is to upgrade affected products. Based on the available source-backed version data, you should upgrade Aiven for PostgreSQL to 1.1.20 or later and Aiven for Valkey to 1.0.7 or later. Because the flaw concerns runtime file permissions and ownership during startup, merely restarting a vulnerable service without upgrading should not be considered sufficient remediation.
If you cannot patch immediately, the short-term goal is to reduce the chance that an untrusted local principal can abuse /run artifacts. That means tightening host access, reducing local interactive access, reviewing service account privileges, and validating ownership/mode bits on runtime files after each startup. This is not a perfect workaround, because the root cause is in startup file handling, but it can reduce exposure while you schedule maintenance.
Technical Notes
Specific upgrade commands depend on how you deploy Aiven’s software. The advisory data available does not specify package names or repository commands for every installation model, so defenders should use the command path that matches their environment and verify the resulting version. Below are concrete examples for common operational patterns.
For containerized deployments:
# Pull a fixed image tag after updating your manifest/tag reference
docker pull <registry>/<image>:1.1.20
docker pull <registry>/<valkey-image>:1.0.7
# Recreate the container
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d
For Kubernetes workloads:
# Update the image tag in the deployment/statefulset
kubectl set image deployment/<name> <container>=<registry>/<image>:1.1.20
kubectl set image statefulset/<name> <container>=<registry>/<valkey-image>:1.0.7
# Confirm rollout
kubectl rollout status deployment/<name>
kubectl rollout status statefulset/<name>
For package-managed hosts, use your standard package manager to install the fixed release, then verify:
# Debian/Ubuntu example
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade <aiven-postgresql-package> <aiven-valkey-package>
# RHEL/CentOS example
sudo dnf upgrade <aiven-postgresql-package> <aiven-valkey-package>
# Verify installed versions
dpkg -l | egrep 'aiven|postgres|valkey' || rpm -qa | egrep 'aiven|postgres|valkey'
If you do not know the exact package names in your environment, that is itself a scoping issue to resolve. Do not guess package names in production. Enumerate installed packages and map them to the vulnerable component first.
As a temporary workaround, validate and correct unsafe permissions after startup, while understanding this does not replace the patch:
# Example corrective actions; adapt paths to your environment after validation
sudo chown root:root /run/<suspect-file>
sudo chmod 0644 /run/<suspect-file>
# For runtime directories
sudo chown root:root /run/<suspect-dir>
sudo chmod 0755 /run/<suspect-dir>
Only apply manual ownership or permission changes after confirming they will not break service behavior. Runtime paths under /run are often recreated on reboot or restart, so manual fixes may be non-persistent.