Description
PyAthena prior to 3.35.4 contains a sql injection vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary SQL by exploiting improper quote-escaping in DefaultParameterFormatter.format(), which routes DELETE and CTAS statements to the _escape_hive function that backslash-escapes single quotes rather than doubling them. Because Athena and Trino do not treat backslashes as escape characters inside string literals, attacker-supplied input such as a single quote followed by SQL syntax causes the parser to terminate the string literal prematurely, enabling data exfiltration via UNION SELECT, execution of destructive statements, and attacker-controlled CTAS destination and content.
References6
- github.com/laughingman7743/PyAthena
- github.com/laughingman7743/PyAthena/security/advisories/GHSA-xw…
- github.com/pyathena-dev/PyAthena/commit/27901d12245ea722b3b4e21…
- github.com/rahulreddykarne/CVE-2026-65321-pyathena
- rahulkarne.com/#/cve/CVE-2026-65321
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/pyathena-sql-injection-via-default…
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
9.8
CRITICAL
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 4.0
-
9.3
CRITICAL
Score source: CNA
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - EPSS — exploit probability
- 1% percentile: 56 · as of 13 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-89
Could this be exploited in your environment?
A patch closes the known hole. A penetration test shows what an attacker can still reach — with proof.