Medium · published May 14, 2026
Covert timing channel in comparison of MD5-hashed password in PostgreSQL authentication allows an attacker to recover user credentials sufficient to authenticate. This does not affect scram-sha-256 passwords, the default in all supported releases. However, current databases may have MD5-hashed passwords originating in upgrades from PostgreSQL 13 or earlier. Versions before PostgreSQL 18.4, 17.10, 16.14, 15.18, and 14.23 are affected.
| Product | Versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| postgresql/postgresql | < 14.23 | 14.23 |
| postgresql/postgresql | ≥ 15.0, < 15.18 | 15.18 |
| postgresql/postgresql | ≥ 16.0, < 16.14 | 16.14 |
| postgresql/postgresql | ≥ 17.0, < 17.10 | 17.10 |
| postgresql/postgresql | ≥ 18.0, < 18.4 | 18.4 |