Prevent possible search_path attacks#915
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knizhnik merged 1 commit intoREL_16_STABLE_neonfrom Mar 17, 2026
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One nit, apart from that LGTM
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Problem
See https://databricks.slack.com/archives/C092W8NBXC0/p1771421660357509?thread_ts=1771421653.582579&cid=C092W8NBXC0
We have discussed it many times:
https://databricks.slack.com/archives/C092W8NBXC0/p1769006207119519
last time at this Monday compute sync.
Still not quite clear to me if it is possible or not to prevent all such SECs but just by providing safe search_path.
Let me share my current vision of the problem.
Extensions quite often work with schema public and neon users are allows to create object in schema public . So user can always place some object in schema public which overrides (hides) standard function.
Since PostgreSQL 9.0+, functions are collected from all schemas in the path before resolution. This means adding a schema to search_path can introduce unexpected overload candidates that change which function gets called.
Solution
While selecting function candidates always prefer ones belonging to superuser
Always prepend
pg_catalogtosearch_path(Postgres is doing it only if it is not explicitly include in search path)