Exclude parallel workers from connection privilege/limit checks.

Cause parallel workers to not check datallowconn, rolcanlogin, and
ACL_CONNECT privileges.  The leader already checked these things
(except for rolcanlogin which might have been checked for a different
role).  Re-checking can accomplish little except to induce unexpected
failures in applications that might not even be aware that their query
has been parallelized.  We already had the principle that parallel
workers rely on their leader to pass a valid set of authorization
information, so this change just extends that a bit further.

Also, modify the ReservedConnections, datconnlimit and rolconnlimit
logic so that these limits are only enforced against regular backends,
and only regular backends are counted while checking if the limits
were already reached.  Previously, background processes that had an
assigned database or role were subject to these limits (with rather
random exclusions for autovac workers and walsenders), and the set of
existing processes that counted against each limit was quite haphazard
as well.  The point of these limits, AFAICS, is to ensure the
availability of PGPROC slots for regular backends.  Since all other
types of processes have their own separate pools of PGPROC slots, it
makes no sense either to enforce these limits against them or to count
them while enforcing the limit.

While edge-case failures of these sorts have been possible for a
long time, the problem got a good deal worse with commit 5a2fed9
(CVE-2024-10978), which caused parallel workers to make some of these
checks using the leader's current role where before we had used its
AuthenticatedUserId, thus allowing parallel queries to fail after
SET ROLE.  The previous behavior was fairly accidental and I have
no desire to return to it.

This patch includes reverting 73c9f91, which was an emergency hack
to suppress these same checks in some cases.  It wasn't complete,
as shown by a recent bug report from Laurenz Albe.  We can also revert
fd4d93d and 4922173, which hacked around the same problems in one
regression test.

In passing, remove the special case for autovac workers in
CheckMyDatabase; it seems cleaner to have AutoVacWorkerMain pass
the INIT_PG_OVERRIDE_ALLOW_CONNS flag, now that that does what's
needed.

Like 5a2fed9, back-patch to supported branches (which sadly no
longer includes v12).

Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/1808397.1735156190@sss.pgh.pa.us

Author: tglsfdc

src/backend/access/transam/parallel.c

@@ -1419,10 +1419,16 @@ ParallelWorkerMain(Datum main_arg)
 							fps->session_user_is_superuser);
 	SetCurrentRoleId(fps->outer_user_id, fps->role_is_superuser);
 
-	/* Restore database connection. */
+	/*
+	 * Restore database connection.  We skip connection authorization checks,
+	 * reasoning that (a) the leader checked these things when it started, and
+	 * (b) we do not want parallel mode to cause these failures, because that
+	 * would make use of parallel query plans not transparent to applications.
+	 */
 	BackgroundWorkerInitializeConnectionByOid(fps->database_id,
 											  fps->authenticated_user_id,
-											  0);
+											  BGWORKER_BYPASS_ALLOWCONN |
+											  BGWORKER_BYPASS_ROLELOGINCHECK);
 
 	/*
 	 * Set the client encoding to the database encoding, since that is what

src/backend/access/transam/twophase.c

@@ -466,7 +466,7 @@ MarkAsPreparingGuts(GlobalTransaction gxact, TransactionId xid, const char *gid,
 	proc->databaseId = databaseid;
 	proc->roleId = owner;
 	proc->tempNamespaceId = InvalidOid;
-	proc->isBackgroundWorker = false;
+	proc->isBackgroundWorker = true;
 	proc->lwWaiting = LW_WS_NOT_WAITING;
 	proc->lwWaitMode = 0;
 	proc->waitLock = NULL;

src/backend/postmaster/autovacuum.c

@@ -1549,12 +1549,16 @@ AutoVacWorkerMain(char *startup_data, size_t startup_data_len)
 		pgstat_report_autovac(dbid);
 
 		/*
-		 * Connect to the selected database, specifying no particular user
+		 * Connect to the selected database, specifying no particular user,
+		 * and ignoring datallowconn.  Collect the database's name for
+		 * display.
 		 *
 		 * Note: if we have selected a just-deleted database (due to using
 		 * stale stats info), we'll fail and exit here.
 		 */
-		InitPostgres(NULL, dbid, NULL, InvalidOid, 0, dbname);
+		InitPostgres(NULL, dbid, NULL, InvalidOid,
+					 INIT_PG_OVERRIDE_ALLOW_CONNS,
+					 dbname);
 		SetProcessingMode(NormalProcessing);
 		set_ps_display(dbname);
 		ereport(DEBUG1,

src/backend/postmaster/postmaster.c

@@ -4156,7 +4156,7 @@ BackgroundWorkerInitializeConnection(const char *dbname, const char *username, u
 	BackgroundWorker *worker = MyBgworkerEntry;
 	bits32		init_flags = 0; /* never honor session_preload_libraries */
 
-	/* ignore datallowconn? */
+	/* ignore datallowconn and ACL_CONNECT? */
 	if (flags & BGWORKER_BYPASS_ALLOWCONN)
 		init_flags |= INIT_PG_OVERRIDE_ALLOW_CONNS;
 	/* ignore rolcanlogin? */
@@ -4190,7 +4190,7 @@ BackgroundWorkerInitializeConnectionByOid(Oid dboid, Oid useroid, uint32 flags)
 	BackgroundWorker *worker = MyBgworkerEntry;
 	bits32		init_flags = 0; /* never honor session_preload_libraries */
 
-	/* ignore datallowconn? */
+	/* ignore datallowconn and ACL_CONNECT? */
 	if (flags & BGWORKER_BYPASS_ALLOWCONN)
 		init_flags |= INIT_PG_OVERRIDE_ALLOW_CONNS;
 	/* ignore rolcanlogin? */

src/backend/storage/ipc/procarray.c

@@ -3621,8 +3621,7 @@ CountDBBackends(Oid databaseid)
 }
 
 /*
- * CountDBConnections --- counts database backends ignoring any background
- *		worker processes
+ * CountDBConnections --- counts database backends (only regular backends)
  */
 int
 CountDBConnections(Oid databaseid)
@@ -3694,6 +3693,7 @@ CancelDBBackends(Oid databaseid, ProcSignalReason sigmode, bool conflictPending)
 
 /*
  * CountUserBackends --- count backends that are used by specified user
+ * (only regular backends, not any type of background worker)
  */
 int
 CountUserBackends(Oid roleid)

src/backend/storage/lmgr/proc.c

@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ InitProcess(void)
 	MyProc->databaseId = InvalidOid;
 	MyProc->roleId = InvalidOid;
 	MyProc->tempNamespaceId = InvalidOid;
-	MyProc->isBackgroundWorker = AmBackgroundWorkerProcess();
+	MyProc->isBackgroundWorker = !AmRegularBackendProcess();
 	MyProc->delayChkptFlags = 0;
 	MyProc->statusFlags = 0;
 	/* NB -- autovac launcher intentionally does not set IS_AUTOVACUUM */
@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@ InitAuxiliaryProcess(void)
 	MyProc->databaseId = InvalidOid;
 	MyProc->roleId = InvalidOid;
 	MyProc->tempNamespaceId = InvalidOid;
-	MyProc->isBackgroundWorker = AmBackgroundWorkerProcess();
+	MyProc->isBackgroundWorker = true;
 	MyProc->delayChkptFlags = 0;
 	MyProc->statusFlags = 0;
 	MyProc->lwWaiting = LW_WS_NOT_WAITING;

src/backend/utils/init/miscinit.c

@@ -753,13 +753,27 @@ has_rolreplication(Oid roleid)
  * Initialize user identity during normal backend startup
  */
 void
-InitializeSessionUserId(const char *rolename, Oid roleid, bool bypass_login_check)
+InitializeSessionUserId(const char *rolename, Oid roleid,
+						bool bypass_login_check)
 {
 	HeapTuple	roleTup;
 	Form_pg_authid rform;
 	char	   *rname;
 	bool		is_superuser;
 
+	/*
+	 * In a parallel worker, we don't have to do anything here.
+	 * ParallelWorkerMain already set our output variables, and we aren't
+	 * going to enforce either rolcanlogin or rolconnlimit.  Furthermore, we
+	 * don't really want to perform a catalog lookup for the role: we don't
+	 * want to fail if it's been dropped.
+	 */
+	if (InitializingParallelWorker)
+	{
+		Assert(bypass_login_check);
+		return;
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * Don't do scans if we're bootstrapping, none of the system catalogs
 	 * exist yet, and they should be owned by postgres anyway.
@@ -775,68 +789,52 @@ InitializeSessionUserId(const char *rolename, Oid roleid, bool bypass_login_chec
 
 	/*
 	 * Look up the role, either by name if that's given or by OID if not.
-	 * Normally we have to fail if we don't find it, but in parallel workers
-	 * just return without doing anything: all the critical work has been done
-	 * already.  The upshot of that is that if the role has been deleted, we
-	 * will not enforce its rolconnlimit against parallel workers anymore.
 	 */
 	if (rolename != NULL)
 	{
 		roleTup = SearchSysCache1(AUTHNAME, PointerGetDatum(rolename));
 		if (!HeapTupleIsValid(roleTup))
-		{
-			if (InitializingParallelWorker)
-				return;
 			ereport(FATAL,
 					(errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_AUTHORIZATION_SPECIFICATION),
 					 errmsg("role \"%s\" does not exist", rolename)));
-		}
 	}
 	else
 	{
 		roleTup = SearchSysCache1(AUTHOID, ObjectIdGetDatum(roleid));
 		if (!HeapTupleIsValid(roleTup))
-		{
-			if (InitializingParallelWorker)
-				return;
 			ereport(FATAL,
 					(errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_AUTHORIZATION_SPECIFICATION),
 					 errmsg("role with OID %u does not exist", roleid)));
-		}
 	}
 
 	rform = (Form_pg_authid) GETSTRUCT(roleTup);
 	roleid = rform->oid;
 	rname = NameStr(rform->rolname);
 	is_superuser = rform->rolsuper;
 
-	/* In a parallel worker, ParallelWorkerMain already set these variables */
-	if (!InitializingParallelWorker)
-	{
-		SetAuthenticatedUserId(roleid);
+	SetAuthenticatedUserId(roleid);
 
-		/*
-		 * Set SessionUserId and related variables, including "role", via the
-		 * GUC mechanisms.
-		 *
-		 * Note: ideally we would use PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT here, so that
-		 * session_authorization could subsequently be changed from
-		 * pg_db_role_setting entries.  Instead, session_authorization in
-		 * pg_db_role_setting has no effect.  Changing that would require
-		 * solving two problems:
-		 *
-		 * 1. If pg_db_role_setting has values for both session_authorization
-		 * and role, we could not be sure which order those would be applied
-		 * in, and it would matter.
-		 *
-		 * 2. Sites may have years-old session_authorization entries.  There's
-		 * not been any particular reason to remove them.  Ending the dormancy
-		 * of those entries could seriously change application behavior, so
-		 * only a major release should do that.
-		 */
-		SetConfigOption("session_authorization", rname,
-						PGC_BACKEND, PGC_S_OVERRIDE);
-	}
+	/*
+	 * Set SessionUserId and related variables, including "role", via the GUC
+	 * mechanisms.
+	 *
+	 * Note: ideally we would use PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT here, so that
+	 * session_authorization could subsequently be changed from
+	 * pg_db_role_setting entries.  Instead, session_authorization in
+	 * pg_db_role_setting has no effect.  Changing that would require solving
+	 * two problems:
+	 *
+	 * 1. If pg_db_role_setting has values for both session_authorization and
+	 * role, we could not be sure which order those would be applied in, and
+	 * it would matter.
+	 *
+	 * 2. Sites may have years-old session_authorization entries.  There's not
+	 * been any particular reason to remove them.  Ending the dormancy of
+	 * those entries could seriously change application behavior, so only a
+	 * major release should do that.
+	 */
+	SetConfigOption("session_authorization", rname,
+					PGC_BACKEND, PGC_S_OVERRIDE);
 
 	/*
 	 * These next checks are not enforced when in standalone mode, so that
@@ -846,7 +844,8 @@ InitializeSessionUserId(const char *rolename, Oid roleid, bool bypass_login_chec
 	if (IsUnderPostmaster)
 	{
 		/*
-		 * Is role allowed to login at all?
+		 * Is role allowed to login at all?  (But background workers can
+		 * override this by setting bypass_login_check.)
 		 */
 		if (!bypass_login_check && !rform->rolcanlogin)
 			ereport(FATAL,
@@ -855,7 +854,9 @@ InitializeSessionUserId(const char *rolename, Oid roleid, bool bypass_login_chec
 							rname)));
 
 		/*
-		 * Check connection limit for this role.
+		 * Check connection limit for this role.  We enforce the limit only
+		 * for regular backends, since other process types have their own
+		 * PGPROC pools.
 		 *
 		 * There is a race condition here --- we create our PGPROC before
 		 * checking for other PGPROCs.  If two backends did this at about the
@@ -865,6 +866,7 @@ InitializeSessionUserId(const char *rolename, Oid roleid, bool bypass_login_chec
 		 * just document that the connection limit is approximate.
 		 */
 		if (rform->rolconnlimit >= 0 &&
+			AmRegularBackendProcess() &&
 			!is_superuser &&
 			CountUserBackends(roleid) > rform->rolconnlimit)
 			ereport(FATAL,

src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 #include "access/genam.h"
 #include "access/heapam.h"
 #include "access/htup_details.h"
-#include "access/parallel.h"
 #include "access/session.h"
 #include "access/tableam.h"
 #include "access/xact.h"
@@ -342,13 +341,13 @@ CheckMyDatabase(const char *name, bool am_superuser, bool override_allow_connect
 	 * These checks are not enforced when in standalone mode, so that there is
 	 * a way to recover from disabling all access to all databases, for
 	 * example "UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = false;".
-	 *
-	 * We do not enforce them for autovacuum worker processes either.
 	 */
-	if (IsUnderPostmaster && !AmAutoVacuumWorkerProcess())
+	if (IsUnderPostmaster)
 	{
 		/*
 		 * Check that the database is currently allowing connections.
+		 * (Background processes can override this test and the next one by
+		 * setting override_allow_connections.)
 		 */
 		if (!dbform->datallowconn && !override_allow_connections)
 			ereport(FATAL,
@@ -361,7 +360,7 @@ CheckMyDatabase(const char *name, bool am_superuser, bool override_allow_connect
 		 * is redundant, but since we have the flag, might as well check it
 		 * and save a few cycles.)
 		 */
-		if (!am_superuser &&
+		if (!am_superuser && !override_allow_connections &&
 			object_aclcheck(DatabaseRelationId, MyDatabaseId, GetUserId(),
 							ACL_CONNECT) != ACLCHECK_OK)
 			ereport(FATAL,
@@ -370,7 +369,9 @@ CheckMyDatabase(const char *name, bool am_superuser, bool override_allow_connect
 					 errdetail("User does not have CONNECT privilege.")));
 
 		/*
-		 * Check connection limit for this database.
+		 * Check connection limit for this database.  We enforce the limit
+		 * only for regular backends, since other process types have their own
+		 * PGPROC pools.
 		 *
 		 * There is a race condition here --- we create our PGPROC before
 		 * checking for other PGPROCs.  If two backends did this at about the
@@ -380,6 +381,7 @@ CheckMyDatabase(const char *name, bool am_superuser, bool override_allow_connect
 		 * just document that the connection limit is approximate.
 		 */
 		if (dbform->datconnlimit >= 0 &&
+			AmRegularBackendProcess() &&
 			!am_superuser &&
 			CountDBConnections(MyDatabaseId) > dbform->datconnlimit)
 			ereport(FATAL,
@@ -914,23 +916,7 @@ InitPostgres(const char *in_dbname, Oid dboid,
 		{
 			InitializeSessionUserId(username, useroid,
 									(flags & INIT_PG_OVERRIDE_ROLE_LOGIN) != 0);
-
-			/*
-			 * In a parallel worker, set am_superuser based on the
-			 * authenticated user ID, not the current role.  This is pretty
-			 * dubious but it matches our historical behavior.  Note that this
-			 * value of am_superuser is used only for connection-privilege
-			 * checks here and in CheckMyDatabase (we won't reach
-			 * process_startup_options in a background worker).
-			 *
-			 * In other cases, there's been no opportunity for the current
-			 * role to diverge from the authenticated user ID yet, so we can
-			 * just rely on superuser() and avoid an extra catalog lookup.
-			 */
-			if (InitializingParallelWorker)
-				am_superuser = superuser_arg(GetAuthenticatedUserId());
-			else
-				am_superuser = superuser();
+			am_superuser = superuser();
 		}
 	}
 	else
@@ -957,17 +943,16 @@ InitPostgres(const char *in_dbname, Oid dboid,
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * The last few connection slots are reserved for superusers and roles
-	 * with privileges of pg_use_reserved_connections.  Replication
-	 * connections are drawn from slots reserved with max_wal_senders and are
-	 * not limited by max_connections, superuser_reserved_connections, or
-	 * reserved_connections.
+	 * The last few regular connection slots are reserved for superusers and
+	 * roles with privileges of pg_use_reserved_connections.  We do not apply
+	 * these limits to background processes, since they all have their own
+	 * pools of PGPROC slots.
 	 *
 	 * Note: At this point, the new backend has already claimed a proc struct,
 	 * so we must check whether the number of free slots is strictly less than
 	 * the reserved connection limits.
 	 */
-	if (!am_superuser && !am_walsender &&
+	if (AmRegularBackendProcess() && !am_superuser &&
 		(SuperuserReservedConnections + ReservedConnections) > 0 &&
 		!HaveNFreeProcs(SuperuserReservedConnections + ReservedConnections, &nfree))
 	{

src/include/miscadmin.h

@@ -372,6 +372,7 @@ typedef enum BackendType
 
 extern PGDLLIMPORT BackendType MyBackendType;
 
+#define AmRegularBackendProcess()	(MyBackendType == B_BACKEND)
 #define AmAutoVacuumLauncherProcess() (MyBackendType == B_AUTOVAC_LAUNCHER)
 #define AmAutoVacuumWorkerProcess()	(MyBackendType == B_AUTOVAC_WORKER)
 #define AmBackgroundWorkerProcess() (MyBackendType == B_BG_WORKER)

src/include/storage/proc.h

@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ struct PGPROC
 	Oid			tempNamespaceId;	/* OID of temp schema this backend is
 									 * using */
 
-	bool		isBackgroundWorker; /* true if background worker. */
+	bool		isBackgroundWorker; /* true if not a regular backend. */
 
 	/*
 	 * While in hot standby mode, shows that a conflict signal has been sent

src/test/modules/worker_spi/worker_spi.c

@@ -173,15 +173,6 @@ worker_spi_main(Datum main_arg)
 		BackgroundWorkerInitializeConnection(worker_spi_database,
 											 worker_spi_role, flags);
 
-	/*
-	 * Disable parallel query for workers started with BYPASS_ALLOWCONN or
-	 * BGWORKER_BYPASS_ALLOWCONN so as these don't attempt connections using a
-	 * database or a role that may not allow that.
-	 */
-	if ((flags & (BGWORKER_BYPASS_ALLOWCONN | BGWORKER_BYPASS_ROLELOGINCHECK)))
-		SetConfigOption("max_parallel_workers_per_gather", "0",
-						PGC_USERSET, PGC_S_OVERRIDE);
-
 	elog(LOG, "%s initialized with %s.%s",
 		 MyBgworkerEntry->bgw_name, table->schema, table->name);
 	initialize_worker_spi(table);