MySQL: Insecure temporary file creation in mysqlhotcopy

1.  Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Version Information

Related bugreports: #60744

Synopsis

The mysqlhotcopy utility can create temporary files with predictable paths, allowing an attacker to use a symlink to trick MySQL into overwriting important data.

2.  Impact Information

Background

MySQL is a popular open-source multi-threaded, multi-user SQL database server.

Description

Jeroen van Wolffelaar discovered that the MySQL database hot copy utility (mysqlhotcopy.sh), when using the scp method, uses temporary files with predictable names. A malicious local user with write access to the /tmp directory could create a symbolic link pointing to a file, which may then be overwritten. In cases where mysqlhotcopy is run as root, a malicious user could create a symlink to a critical file such as /etc/passwd and cause it to be overwritten.

Impact

A local attacker could use this vulnerability to destroy other users' data or corrupt and destroy system files, possibly leading to a denial of service condition.

3.  Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All MySQL users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge sync
# emerge -pv ">=dev-db/mysql-4.0.20-r1"
# emerge ">=dev-db/mysql-4.0.20-r1"

4.  References

• CAN-2004-0457