# PostgreSQL Out-of-Cycle Emergency Minor Releases Are Out

LLMS index: [llms.txt](/en/llms.txt)

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As I noted earlier in [Urgent Advisory: Pause PostgreSQL Minor-Release Installs and Upgrades](/en/pg/pg-out-of-sync-202602/), the previous batch of PostgreSQL minor releases shipped with regressions, making it wiser to hold off on deployments until the out-of-cycle fixes arrived. Right on schedule—less than ten days later—PostgreSQL 18.3, 17.9, and the rest of the minor release series are out.

![PostgreSQL out-of-cycle minor release announcement](01.webp)

That said, the PGDG binary packages are not out yet, and mirror sites will likely take another day to catch up. I am currently wrapping up testing for Pigsty v4.2; as soon as the PGDG packages land, I will build the offline package bundles and cut the new release.

## PostgreSQL 18.3, 17.9, 16.13, 15.17, and 14.22 Released!

**Release Date: 2026-02-26** | PostgreSQL Global Development Group

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has released an update to all supported versions of PostgreSQL, including 18.3, 17.9, 16.13, 15.17, and 14.22. This is an **out-of-cycle release** to address several regressions reported after the previous update<sup>[1]</sup>.

For the full list of changes, please review the release notes<sup>[2]</sup>.

## Bug Fixes and Improvements

This update fixes several bugs reported since the previous release. The issues listed below affect PostgreSQL 18, and some may also affect other supported versions.

- Fix an issue where a standby could halt with the error `"could not access status of transaction"`.
- Fix `substring()`<sup>[3]</sup> raising an `"invalid byte sequence for encoding"` error on non-ASCII text values when the value comes from a database column. This regression was introduced by the fix for `CVE-2026-2006`<sup>[4]</sup>.
- Fix an issue in the `pg_trgm`<sup>[5]</sup> extension where `strict_word_similarity` could produce incorrect output or crash, introduced by an oversight in the fix for CVE-2026-2007<sup>[6]</sup>.
- Restore the function volatility marking of `json_strip_nulls()` and `jsonb_strip_nulls()` to `IMMUTABLE`, matching previous releases so they can be used in indexes. If you previously upgraded to PostgreSQL 18.0 through 18.2, see the "Updating" section below for additional post-upgrade steps.
- Fix incorrect query results caused by `NOT NULL` tests in `LATERAL UNION ALL` subqueries.
- Prevent system-generated `NOT NULL` constraint names from colliding with user-specified constraint names.
- Fix `pg_stat_get_backend_wait_event()` and `pg_stat_get_backend_wait_event_type()` so they report wait events for auxiliary processes, matching `pg_stat_activity`.
- Fix an error in PL/pgSQL functions when returning a composite-type variable cast to a domain type.
- Fix a potential crash in the `hstore`<sup>[7]</sup> binary input function when processing input with duplicate keys.

## Updating

All PostgreSQL update releases are cumulative. As with other minor releases, users are not required to dump and reload their database or use `pg_upgrade`<sup>[8]</sup> in order to apply this update release; you may simply shut down PostgreSQL and update its binaries.

If you have previously upgraded to PostgreSQL 18.0, 18.1, or 18.2, you need to run the following SQL as a PostgreSQL superuser in **all databases** to mark `json_strip_nulls()` and `jsonb_strip_nulls()` as `IMMUTABLE`:

```sql
UPDATE pg_catalog.pg_proc SET provolatile = 'i' WHERE oid IN ('3261','3262');
```

You should also execute this command in the `template0` and `template1` databases so that future databases created in the PostgreSQL cluster have the correct function volatility setting. See the template databases<sup>[9]</sup> documentation for more information.

Users who have skipped one or more update releases may need to run additional post-update steps; please see the release notes from earlier versions for details.

For more details, please see the release notes<sup>[10]</sup>.

### References

- `[1]` Several regressions reported after the previous update: <https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/out-of-cycle-release-scheduled-for-february-26-2026-3241/>
- `[2]` Release notes: <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/release/>
- `[3]` `substring()`: <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-string.html#FUNCTIONS-STRING-FORMAT>
- `[4]` `CVE-2026-2006`: <https://www.postgresql.org/support/security/CVE-2026-2006/>
- `[5]` `pg_trgm`: <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/pgtrgm.html>
- `[6]` CVE-2026-2007: <https://www.postgresql.org/support/security/CVE-2026-2007/>
- `[7]` `hstore`: <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/hstore.html>
- `[8]` `pg_upgrade`: <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/pgupgrade.html>
- `[9]` Template databases: <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/manage-ag-templatedbs.html>
- `[10]` Release notes: <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/release/>

![PostgreSQL release references](02.webp)

## Pigsty v4.2 Preview

**Pigsty v4.2 is scheduled to ship tomorrow or the day after, complete with offline installation packages for PostgreSQL 18.3.**

![Pigsty v4.2 preview](03.webp)

**Beyond the minor-version bump, v4.2 packs several major additions: Pigsty now builds Cloudberry (a Greenplum 7 MPP data warehouse), AgensGraph (a native graph database kernel), and pgEdge (multi-master replication), along with repackaged builds of OpenHalo (MySQL wire compatibility) and the latest OrioleDB (OLTP storage engine, beta14).**

**That brings the total number of supported database kernels in this release to 12 (16+ in practice), covering nearly every PostgreSQL-ecosystem kernel with a distinct value proposition.**

![Pigsty v4.2 supported PostgreSQL kernels](04.webp)

**Meanwhile, the total number of available PostgreSQL extensions has reached a record 461.**

![Pigsty v4.2 extension catalog](05.webp)

**Stay tuned for the full release notes.**

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