What happened
The DuckDB AWS extension for DuckDB contains a security policy bypass vulnerability that allows any database user with SQL execution permissions to extract plaintext AWS credentials by calling the load_aws_credentials function with the redact_secret parameter set to false, circumventing the database-wide allow_unredacted_secrets=false policy. Attackers can invoke this single function to retrieve the underlying AWS credential chain including access_key_id, secret_access_key, session_token, and region in plaintext, which are immediately valid against AWS APIs and particularly impactful in managed environments where pg_duckdb is preloaded and an AWS credential chain such as IMDSv2, IRSA, ECS task role, or EC2 instance role is reachable.
Affected versions
duckdb-aws: before 7d04119ee8d3f8836e278f0e8cbf21827ff5338b (git) Fixed: See vendor advisory.
Why it matters
Review the vendor advisory and exposure of the affected product to determine operational impact.
Detection & mitigation
- Apply vendor-provided updates or mitigations.
- Review affected product exposure and access logs.
Public PoC references
No public PoC reference has passed the current publication threshold.