# Fix circular role dependencies before upgrading Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL

DevFeed: [Fix circular role dependencies before upgrading Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/fix-circular-role-dependencies-before-upgrading-amazon-rds-and-amazon-aurora-postgresql-4708.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/resolve-circular-role-dependencies-during-upgrades-of-amazon-rds-for-postgresql-and-amazon-aurora/>)

Author: Ravi Teja Adabala

Published: 2026-08-31T23:42:55Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [AWS Database Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/aws-database-blog.md>)

Topics: [PostgreSQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/postgresql.md>), [RDS for PostgreSQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rds-for-postgresql.md>), [Amazon Aurora](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/amazon-aurora.md>), [Amazon RDS](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/amazon-rds.md>), [SQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sql.md>), [postgresql clusters](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/postgresql-clusters.md>), [Graphs](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/graphs.md>)

Tags: [amazon-aurora](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/amazon-aurora.md>), [amazon-rds](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/amazon-rds.md>), [database](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/database.md>), [how-to](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/how-to.md>), [intermediate-200](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/intermediate-200.md>), [postgresql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/postgresql.md>), [rds-for-postgresql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rds-for-postgresql.md>), [sql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sql.md>), [technical-how-to](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/technical-how-to.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains how circular PostgreSQL role dependencies can cause major version upgrades of Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL to stall or roll back when upgrading from PostgreSQL 14 or earlier to PostgreSQL 15 or later. It describes a diagnostic query and steps to resolve the dependencies before the upgrade.

## Source excerpt

Circular role dependencies can stall or roll back a major version upgrade of Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL or Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL when you move from PostgreSQL 14 or earlier to 15 or later. Learn why this happens, how to detect it with a single pre-upgrade query, and how to clear it before you upgrade.