ZeroHour

CVE-2026-85878

mass

Improper Authorization in Azure Database for PostgreSQL Enables Privilege Escalation

CVSS 3.1
9.9 critical
EPSS
Published
()
Modified
AI analysis

CVE-2026-85878 is an improper authorization flaw (CWE-285) in Microsoft's Azure Database for PostgreSQL managed service. An attacker who already holds some authorized, low-privilege access — such as an authenticated database user — can send network requests that the service fails to properly authorize, thereby elevating their privileges. The CVSS 3.1 score of 9.9 reflects network exploitability, low attack complexity, no user interaction, a scope change (impact extending beyond the vulnerable component), and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. All customers running Azure Database for PostgreSQL are potentially affected until remediated. The flaw is not currently listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public proof-of-concept is known.

What to do: Check the MSRC advisory and Azure Service Health, and confirm your instances have received Microsoft's service-side fix, as managed Azure databases are typically patched by Microsoft rather than by customer upgrades. Until remediation is confirmed, enforce least-privilege database roles, audit role and admin memberships for unexpected grants, and restrict network exposure using firewall rules, Private Link/Private Endpoints, and VNet integration. Review PostgreSQL audit logs and Microsoft Defender for open-source relational databases alerts for signs of privilege escalation attempts.

Affected
Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQLManaged cloud service; all deployments current at the time of disclosure (no specific version ranges disclosed in the data)
Estimated exposure
masslikely hundreds of thousands to over a million database instances worldwide (first-party Azure managed service; exact counts unpublished) — Azure Database for PostgreSQL is a heavily promoted first-party Azure managed database offering with a large global customer base, so the order-of-magnitude estimate is inferred from Azure's scale and managed Postgres adoption rather than…

Order-of-magnitude estimate by the model from install counts, market share and public scan data it knows; verify before quoting.

Description

Improper authorization in Azure Database for PostgreSQL allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.

Weakness
CWE-285
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

In the news

Microsoft Patches CVSS 10.0 Azure AI Foundry Flaw Enabling Unauthorized Privilege Escalation

Microsoft patched a CVSS 10.0 missing-authentication privilege escalation flaw, CVE-2026-85889, in Azure AI Foundry, already fully mitigated server-side.

Microsoft fixed CVE-2026-85889, a CVSS 10.0 missing-authentication flaw in Azure AI Foundry (Microsoft Foundry) that allows unauthorized attackers to elevate privileges over a network, credited to researcher Rémy Marot. No exploitation in the wild was reported, and Microsoft says these cloud flaws are fully mitigated with no customer action required. The same effort covered CVE-2026-85885 (CVSS 9.9 command injection in Microsoft 365 Copilot), CVE-2026-85878 (CVSS 9.9 Azure Database for PostgreSQL), and CVE-2026-87701 (CVSS 9.6 Azure Cosmos DB). Out-of-band Windows 11 26H1 updates (KB5129194) also address local privilege escalation flaws CVE-2026-62721 and CVE-2026-85921.

Critical Microsoft Azure AI Foundry Vulnerability Allows Attackers to Escalate Privileges

Microsoft patched CVE-2026-85889 (CVSS 10.0), a missing-auth flaw in Azure AI Foundry enabling unauthenticated network privilege escalation; no exploitation observed.

CVE-2026-85889, rated 10.0, stems from a missing authentication check (CWE-306) in Azure AI Foundry, letting unauthenticated attackers abuse a backend function and bypass access controls. Microsoft deployed a server-side fix, so no customer action is required, and reports no active exploitation or public PoC. The advisory window also included CVE-2026-85885 in Microsoft 365 Copilot and CVE-2026-85878 in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, both rated 9.9.