Re: pg18: Virtual generated columns are not (yet) safe when superuser selects from them

From: Christoph Berg <myon(at)debian(dot)org>
To: Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com>
Cc: Peter Eisentraut <peter(at)eisentraut(dot)org>, Feike Steenbergen <feikesteenbergen(at)gmail(dot)com>, PostgreSQL mailing lists <pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: pg18: Virtual generated columns are not (yet) safe when superuser selects from them
Date: 2025-06-05 15:24:13
Message-ID: aEG2nR-vhtrLSnlV@msg.df7cb.de
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Re: Robert Haas
> I don't think this is sufficient to fix the problem. We have built-in
> functions that are unsafe. These include LO functions like loread(),
> lowrite(), lo_unlink(); functions that change session state like
> set_config() and setseed(); functions that allow arbitrary query
> execution like query_to_xml(); slot-manipulation functions like
> pg_drop_replication_slot(); and maybe other things.

That was my thought as well - if user defined functions are
disallowed, just put the exploit code into the expression.

Turns out that doesn't work:

=# create table pwn (id int, pwn boolean generated always as (pg_reload_conf()));
ERROR: 42P17: generation expression is not immutable

So the question is, are all built-in *immutable* functions safe?

Extending the idea, perhaps the check could be moved to run-time and
recursively check that only immutable functions are called, including
user-defined immutable functions?

Christoph

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