phpMyAdmin: Local file inclusion and XSS vulnerabilities — GLSA 200510-21

phpMyAdmin contains a local file inclusion vulnerability that may lead to the execution of arbitrary code, along with several cross-site scripting issues.

Affected packages

dev-db/phpmyadmin on all architectures
Affected versions < 2.6.4_p3
Unaffected versions >= 2.6.4_p3

Background

phpMyAdmin is a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the web.

Description

Stefan Esser discovered that by calling certain PHP files directly, it was possible to workaround the grab_globals.lib.php security model and overwrite the $cfg configuration array. Systems running PHP in safe mode are not affected. Futhermore, Tobias Klein reported several cross-site-scripting issues resulting from insufficient user input sanitizing.

Impact

A local attacker may exploit this vulnerability by sending malicious requests, causing the execution of arbitrary code with the rights of the user running the web server. Furthermore, the cross-site scripting issues give a remote attacker the ability to inject and execute malicious script code or to steal cookie-based authentication credentials, potentially compromising the victim's browser.

Workaround

There is no known workaround for all those issues at this time.

Resolution

All phpMyAdmin users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-db/phpmyadmin-2.6.4_p3"

References

Release date
October 25, 2005

Latest revision
May 22, 2006: 02

Severity
normal

Exploitable
local and remote

Bugzilla entries