Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 12:08:06 +0000
From: Bertrand Drouvot <bertranddrouvot.pg@gmail.com>
To: pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re-read subscription state after lock in AlterSubscription
Message-ID: <akZUpiDa1UfmzYxL@bdtpg>
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Hi hackers,

while playing with the new ALTER SUBSCRIPTION parameter added in a5918fddf10,
I realized that the subscription is not re-read once we acquire the lock in
AlterSubscription().

This pre-existing issue is now more visible after a5918fddf10:

1/ two concurrent ALTER SUBSCRIPTION SET (conflict_log_destination = 'table')
could result in the second session attempting to create an already-existing
conflict log table, producing a confusing "relation already exists" error:

ERROR:  relation "pg_conflict_log_24614" already exists

It's confusing because ALTER SUBSCRIPTION SET (conflict_log_destination = 'table')
would not report an error if the conflict table already exists (and no concurrent
ALTER is running).

2/ a concurrent DROP followed by the ALTER would emit a NOTICE about creating the
conflict log table before failing with "referenced subscription was concurrently
dropped". That sounds like a weird messaging:

NOTICE:  created conflict log table "pg_conflict.pg_conflict_log_24620" for subscription "mysub"
ERROR:  referenced subscription was concurrently dropped

The attached fixes it by:

- Re-reading the subscription tuple after LockSharedObject() and refreshing the
  Subscription struct.
- Moving the local variable assignments to after the re-read.
- Re-checking the password_required privilege restriction after the re-read.

Remarks:

1/ not re-checking password_required after the re-read would still produce a
"tuple concurrently updated" error, but re-checking it allows us to display a
better error message.

2/ the ownership check is intentionally not re-done after the lock because
AlterSubscriptionOwner() does not take AccessExclusiveLock on the subscription
object: it only takes RowExclusiveLock on the pg_subscription catalog table.
This means ownership can change regardless of our lock, making a re-check after
lock acquisition pointless. The existing "tuple concurrently updated" error from
CatalogTupleUpdate() already provides a protection if ownership changes
concurrently.

3/ the "privileges" checks are still also done before the lock acquisition because
we don't want to lock an object we don't have privileges on.

Regards,

-- 
Bertrand Drouvot
PostgreSQL Contributors Team
RDS Open Source Databases
Amazon Web Services: https://aws.amazon.com

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	filename="v1-0001-Re-read-subscription-state-after-lock-in-AlterSub.patch"

From 72a53d1991e7cd9d4a52f48284ddc974a0a4ae65 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bertrand Drouvot <bertranddrouvot.pg@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 11:07:04 +0000
Subject: [PATCH v1] Re-read subscription state after lock in AlterSubscription

AlterSubscription() reads the subscription's catalog state via GetSubscription()
before acquiring AccessExclusiveLock on the subscription object. A concurrent
session that commits a DROP or ALTER between the read and the lock acquisition
leaves the other session acting with stale information once it unblocks.

Fix by:

- Re-reading the subscription tuple after LockSharedObject() and refreshing the
  Subscription struct.
- Moving the local variable assignments to after the re-read.
- Re-checking the password_required privilege restriction after the re-read.

Remarks:

1/ not re-checking password_required after the re-read would still produce a
"tuple concurrently updated" error, but re-checking it allows us to display a
better error message.

2/ the ownership check is intentionally not re-done after the lock because
AlterSubscriptionOwner() does not take AccessExclusiveLock on the subscription
object: it only takes RowExclusiveLock on the pg_subscription catalog table.
This means ownership can change regardless of our lock, making a re-check after
lock acquisition pointless. The existing "tuple concurrently updated" error from
CatalogTupleUpdate() already provides a protection if ownership changes
concurrently.

Author: Bertrand Drouvot <bertranddrouvot.pg@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by:
Discussion:
---
 src/backend/commands/subscriptioncmds.c | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
 100.0% src/backend/commands/

diff --git a/src/backend/commands/subscriptioncmds.c b/src/backend/commands/subscriptioncmds.c
index 4292e7fb8f4..be03b3eb7e1 100644
--- a/src/backend/commands/subscriptioncmds.c
+++ b/src/backend/commands/subscriptioncmds.c
@@ -1695,11 +1695,6 @@ AlterSubscription(ParseState *pstate, AlterSubscriptionStmt *stmt,
 	 */
 	sub = GetSubscription(subid, false, orig_conninfo_needed, false);
 
-	retain_dead_tuples = sub->retaindeadtuples;
-	origin = sub->origin;
-	max_retention = sub->maxretention;
-	retention_active = sub->retentionactive;
-
 	/*
 	 * Don't allow non-superuser modification of a subscription with
 	 * password_required=false.
@@ -1713,6 +1708,42 @@ AlterSubscription(ParseState *pstate, AlterSubscriptionStmt *stmt,
 	/* Lock the subscription so nobody else can do anything with it. */
 	LockSharedObject(SubscriptionRelationId, subid, 0, AccessExclusiveLock);
 
+	/*
+	 * Re-read the subscription tuple after acquiring the lock. A concurrent
+	 * DROP or ALTER may have committed before we acquired the lock.
+	 */
+	heap_freetuple(tup);
+	tup = SearchSysCacheCopy2(SUBSCRIPTIONNAME, ObjectIdGetDatum(MyDatabaseId),
+							  CStringGetDatum(stmt->subname));
+
+	if (!HeapTupleIsValid(tup))
+		ereport(ERROR,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_UNDEFINED_OBJECT),
+				 errmsg("subscription \"%s\" does not exist",
+						stmt->subname)));
+
+	form = (Form_pg_subscription) GETSTRUCT(tup);
+
+	/* Refresh the subscription. */
+	pfree(sub);
+	sub = GetSubscription(subid, false, orig_conninfo_needed, false);
+
+	/*
+	 * Re-check whether a non-superuser is allowed to alter this subscription.
+	 * A concurrent ALTER may have set password_required=false while we were
+	 * waiting for the lock.
+	 */
+	if (!sub->passwordrequired && !superuser())
+		ereport(ERROR,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_INSUFFICIENT_PRIVILEGE),
+				 errmsg("password_required=false is superuser-only"),
+				 errhint("Subscriptions with the password_required option set to false may only be created or modified by the superuser.")));
+
+	retain_dead_tuples = sub->retaindeadtuples;
+	origin = sub->origin;
+	max_retention = sub->maxretention;
+	retention_active = sub->retentionactive;
+
 	/* Form a new tuple. */
 	memset(values, 0, sizeof(values));
 	memset(nulls, false, sizeof(nulls));
-- 
2.34.1


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