An oversight in commit e710b65c1c56ca7b91f662c63d37ff2e72862a94 allowed
    database names beginning with "-" to be treated as though they were secure
    command-line switches; and this switch processing occurs before client
    authentication, so that even an unprivileged remote attacker could exploit
    the bug, needing only connectivity to the postmaster's port.  Assorted
    exploits for this are possible, some requiring a valid database login,
    some not.  The worst known problem is that the "-r" switch can be invoked
    to redirect the process's stderr output, so that subsequent error messages
    will be appended to any file the server can write.  This can for example be
    used to corrupt the server's configuration files, so that it will fail when
    next restarted.  Complete destruction of database tables is also possible.

    Fix by keeping the database name extracted from a startup packet fully
    separate from command-line switches, as had already been done with the
    user name field.
    
    The Postgres project thanks Mitsumasa Kondo for discovering this bug,
    Kyotaro Horiguchi for drafting the fix, and Noah Misch for recognizing
    the full extent of the danger.
    
    Security: CVE-2013-1899