The bitnami/pgpool Docker image, and the bitnami/postgres-ha k8s chart, under default configurations, comes with an repmgr user that allows unauthenticated access to the database inside the cluster. The PGPOOL_SR_CHECK_USER is the user that Pgpool itself uses to perform streaming replication checks against nodes, and should not be at trust level. This allows to log into a PostgreSQL database using the repgmr user without authentication. If Pgpool is exposed externally, a potential attacker could use this user to get access to the service. This is also present within the bitnami/postgres-ha Kubernetes Helm chart.
The product initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the administrator, but the default is not secure.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitnami | Broadcom | * | 16.0.0 (excluding) |
| Bitnami_popool | Broadcom | * | 4.6.0-1 (excluding) |
Developers often choose default values that leave the product as open and easy to use as possible out-of-the-box, under the assumption that the administrator can (or should) change the default value. However, this ease-of-use comes at a cost when the default is insecure and the administrator does not change it.