---
id: CVE-2026-19888
title: >-
  Missing validation of a mandatory attribute in the SCRAM client-final-message
  parser in PgBouncer through 1.25.2 allows an unauthenticated remote attacker
  to crash the process
summary: >-
  Missing validation of a mandatory attribute in the SCRAM client-final-message
  parser in PgBouncer through 1.25.2 allows an unauthenticated remote attacker
  to crash the process. A malformed message can make the parser report success
  while…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-476
product: PgBouncer
affected:
  - PgBouncer <= 1.25.2
published: '2026-09-23'
updated: '2026-09-23'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-23T19:40:10.000'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-19888'
references:
  - url: 'https://www.pgbouncer.org/changelog.html'
    label: f86ef6dc-4d3a-42ad-8f28-e6d5547a5007
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-19888.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-19888'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539545'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-19888'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-19888'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:70698'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-23T16:33:38.167752Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-23T16:27:22.664Z'
vendor: Red Hat
patched:
  - hardened_images
epss: 0.00392
epssPercentile: 0.3058
---

## Overview

Missing validation of a mandatory attribute in the SCRAM client-final-message parser in PgBouncer through 1.25.2 allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to crash the process. A malformed message can make the parser report success while leaving a required value unset, which is then dereferenced as a NULL pointer. The crash occurs before any credential is verified, so no valid account is required. Because PgBouncer serves all clients from a single process, this terminates every pooled connection.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Red Hat Hardened Images · no fix planned: Red Hat Hardened Images · updated 2026-09-23 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-19888.json)
- **RHSA-2026:70698** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat Hardened Images · released 2026-09-23 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:70698)