<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <!DOCTYPE glsa SYSTEM "http://www.gentoo.org/dtd/glsa.dtd"> <glsa id="200405-20"> <title>Insecure Temporary File Creation In MySQL</title> <synopsis> Two MySQL utilities create temporary files with hardcoded paths, allowing an attacker to use a symlink to trick MySQL into overwriting important data. </synopsis> <product type="ebuild">MySQL</product> <announced>2004-05-25</announced> <revised count="01">2004-05-25</revised> <bug>46242</bug> <access>local </access> <affected> <package name="dev-db/mysql" auto="yes" arch="*"> <unaffected range="ge">4.0.18-r2</unaffected> <vulnerable range="lt">4.0.18-r2</vulnerable> </package> </affected> <background> <p> MySQL is a popular open-source multi-threaded, multi-user SQL database server. </p> </background> <description> <p> The MySQL bug reporting utility (mysqlbug) creates a temporary file to log bug reports to. A malicious local user with write access to the /tmp directory could create a symbolic link of the name mysqlbug-<i>N</i> pointing to a protected file, such as /etc/passwd, such that when mysqlbug creates the <i>N</i>th log file, it would end up overwriting the target file. A similar vulnerability exists with the mysql_multi utility, which creates a temporary file called mysql_multi.log. </p> </description> <impact type="normal"> <p> Since mysql_multi runs as root, a local attacker could use this to destroy any other users' data or corrupt and destroy system files. </p> </impact> <workaround> <p> One could modify both scripts to log to a directory that users do not have write permission to, such as /var/log/mysql/. </p> </workaround> <resolution> <p> All users should upgrade to the latest stable version of MySQL. </p> <code> # emerge sync # emerge -pv ">=dev-db/mysql-4.0.18-r2" # emerge ">=dev-db/mysql-4.0.18-r2"</code> </resolution> <references> <uri link="https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2004-0381">CAN-2004-0381</uri> <uri link="https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2004-0388">CAN-2004-0388</uri> </references> <metadata tag="submitter"> dmargoli </metadata> </glsa>