Out-of-cycle release scheduled for February 26, 2026

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group is planning for an out-of-cycle release on February 26, 2026 due to regressions introduced in the [February 12, 2026 update release](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-182-178-1612-1516-and-1421-released-3235/), which included releases 18.2, 17.8, 16.12, 15.16, and 14.21. This release will provide fixes for all supported versions (18.3, 17.9, 16.13, 15.17, 14.22). While these fixes may not impact all PostgreSQL users, the PostgreSQL Global Development Group wants to address these issues before the [next scheduled release](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/roadmap/) on May 14, 2026.

The regressions from this release include:

* The [`substring()`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-string.html#id-1.5.8.10.5.2.2.17.1.1.1) function raises an error `"invalid byte sequence for encoding"` on non-ASCII text values if the [source of that value is a database column](https://postgr.es/m/19406-9867fddddd724fca@postgresql.org).
* A standby may [halt and return an error](https://postgr.es/m/CACV2tSw3VYS7d27ftO_cs%2BaF3M54%2BJwWBbqSGLcKoG9cvyb6EA%40mail.gmail.com) `"could not access status of transaction"`.

For the `substring()` regression, the fix for [CVE-2026-2006](https://www.postgresql.org/support/security/CVE-2026-2006/), which closed a vulnerability in the database server, introduced a regression causing `substring()` to improperly return an error on multi-byte (non-ASCII) text values if the source of that value was a database column. If you've upgraded to 18.2, 17.8, 16.12, 15.16, or 14.21, and need the fix ahead of the February 26, 2026 release, you should consider manually applying the changes. Release specific information can be found here: [https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/2026-02_Regression_Fixes](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/2026-02_Regression_Fixes).

Ahead of this release, you can find additional information about the regressions and fixes here: [https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/2026-02_Regression_Fixes](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/2026-02_Regression_Fixes).