Format string vulnerability in time.cc in MySQL Server 4.1 before 4.1.21 and 5.0 before 1 April 2006 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (crash) via a format string instead of a date as the first parameter to the date_format function, which is later used in a formatted print call to display the error message.

MySQL did not correctly check directories used as arguments for the DATA DIRECTORY and INDEX DIRECTORY directives. Using this flaw, an authenticated attacker could elevate their access privileges to tables created by other database users. Note: this attack does not work on existing tables. An attacker can only elevate their access to another user's tables as the tables are created. As well, the names of these created tables need to be predicted correctly for this attack to succeed. (CVE-2008-2079)

MySQL did not require the 'DROP' privilege for 'RENAME TABLE' statements. An authenticated user could use this flaw to rename arbitrary tables. (CVE-2007-2691)

MySQL allowed an authenticated user to access a table through a previously created MERGE table, even after the user's privileges were revoked from the original table, which might violate intended security policy. This is addressed by allowing the MERGE storage engine to be disabled, which can be done by running mysqld with the '--skip-merge' option. (CVE-2006-4031)

A flaw in MySQL allowed an authenticated user to cause the MySQL daemon to crash via crafted SQL queries. This only caused a temporary denial of service, as the MySQL daemon is automatically restarted after the crash. (CVE-2006-3469)

As well, these updated packages fix the following bugs :

  - in the previous mysql packages, if a column name was     referenced more than once in an 'ORDER BY' section of a     query, a segmentation fault occurred.

  - when MySQL failed to start, the init script returned a     successful (0) exit code. When using the Red Hat Cluster     Suite, this may have caused cluster services to report a     successful start, even when MySQL failed to start. In     these updated packages, the init script returns the     correct exit codes, which resolves this issue.

  - it was possible to use the mysqld_safe command to     specify invalid port numbers (higher than 65536),     causing invalid ports to be created, and, in some cases,     a 'port number definition: unsigned short' error. In     these updated packages, when an invalid port number is     specified, the default port number is used.

  - when setting 'myisam_repair_threads > 1', any repair set     the index cardinality to '1', regardless of the table     size.

  - the MySQL init script no longer runs 'chmod -R' on the     entire database directory tree during every startup.

  - when running 'mysqldump' with the MySQL 4.0     compatibility mode option, '--compatible=mysql40',     mysqldump created dumps that omitted the     'auto_increment' field.

As well, the MySQL init script now uses more reliable methods for determining parameters, such as the data directory location.

Note: these updated packages upgrade MySQL to version 4.1.22. For a full list of bug fixes and enhancements, refer to the MySQL release notes: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/news-4-1-22.html

The version of MySQL installed on the remote host is earlier than 4.1.21 / 5.0 and reportedly allows a remote, authenticated user to crash the server via a format string attack.

Updated mysql packages that fix various security issues, several bugs, and add an enhancement are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

MySQL is a multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database server. MySQL is a client/server implementation consisting of a server daemon (mysqld), and many different client programs and libraries.

MySQL did not correctly check directories used as arguments for the DATA DIRECTORY and INDEX DIRECTORY directives. Using this flaw, an authenticated attacker could elevate their access privileges to tables created by other database users. Note: this attack does not work on existing tables. An attacker can only elevate their access to another user's tables as the tables are created. As well, the names of these created tables need to be predicted correctly for this attack to succeed. (CVE-2008-2079)

MySQL did not require the 'DROP' privilege for 'RENAME TABLE' statements. An authenticated user could use this flaw to rename arbitrary tables. (CVE-2007-2691)

MySQL allowed an authenticated user to access a table through a previously created MERGE table, even after the user's privileges were revoked from the original table, which might violate intended security policy. This is addressed by allowing the MERGE storage engine to be disabled, which can be done by running mysqld with the '--skip-merge' option. (CVE-2006-4031)

A flaw in MySQL allowed an authenticated user to cause the MySQL daemon to crash via crafted SQL queries. This only caused a temporary denial of service, as the MySQL daemon is automatically restarted after the crash. (CVE-2006-3469)

As well, these updated packages fix the following bugs :

* in the previous mysql packages, if a column name was referenced more than once in an 'ORDER BY' section of a query, a segmentation fault occurred.

* when MySQL failed to start, the init script returned a successful (0) exit code. When using the Red Hat Cluster Suite, this may have caused cluster services to report a successful start, even when MySQL failed to start. In these updated packages, the init script returns the correct exit codes, which resolves this issue.

* it was possible to use the mysqld_safe command to specify invalid port numbers (higher than 65536), causing invalid ports to be created, and, in some cases, a 'port number definition: unsigned short' error.
In these updated packages, when an invalid port number is specified, the default port number is used.

* when setting 'myisam_repair_threads > 1', any repair set the index cardinality to '1', regardless of the table size.

* the MySQL init script no longer runs 'chmod -R' on the entire database directory tree during every startup.

* when running 'mysqldump' with the MySQL 4.0 compatibility mode option, '--compatible=mysql40', mysqldump created dumps that omitted the 'auto_increment' field.

As well, the MySQL init script now uses more reliable methods for determining parameters, such as the data directory location.

Note: these updated packages upgrade MySQL to version 4.1.22. For a full list of bug fixes and enhancements, refer to the MySQL release notes: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/news-4-1-22.html

All mysql users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve these issues and add this enhancement.

Jean-David Maillefer discovered a format string bug in the date_format() function's error reporting. By calling the function with invalid arguments, an authenticated user could exploit this to crash the server.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

The remote host is running a version of Mac OS X 10.4 that is older than version 10.4.9 or a version of Mac OS X 10.3 that does not have Security Update 2007-003 applied. This update contains several security fixes for the following programs :

 - ColorSync
 - CoreGraphics
 - Crash Reporter
 - CUPS
 - Disk Images
 - DS Plugins
 - Flash Player
 - GNU Tar
 - HFS
 - HID Family
 - ImageIO
 - Kernel
 - MySQL server
 - Networking
 - OpenSSH
 - Printing
 - QuickDraw Manager
 - servermgrd
 - SMB File Server
 - Software Update
 - sudo 
 - WebLog

The remote host is running a version of Mac OS X 10.4 which is older than version 10.4.9 or a version of Mac OS X 10.3 which does not have Security Update 2007-003 applied.

This update contains several security fixes for the following programs :

 - ColorSync
 - CoreGraphics
 - Crash Reporter
 - CUPS
 - Disk Images
 - DS Plugins
 - Flash Player
 - GNU Tar
 - HFS
 - HID Family
 - ImageIO
 - Kernel
 - MySQL server
 - Networking
 - OpenSSH
 - Printing
 - QuickDraw Manager
 - servermgrd
 - SMB File Server
 - Software Update
 - sudo 
 - WebLog

New mysql packages are available for Slackware 10.2 to fix security issues (and other bugs). For complete details about the many fixes addressed by this release, you can find MySQL's news article about the MySQL 4.1.21 Community Edition release here:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/news-4-1-21.html

Several local vulnerabilities have been discovered in the MySQL database server, which may lead to denial of service. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following problems :

  - CVE-2006-3081     'Kanatoko' discovered that the server can be crashed     with feeding NULL values to the str_to_date() function.

  - CVE-2006-3469     Jean-David Maillefer discovered that the server can be     crashed with specially crafted date_format() function     calls.

Jean-David Maillefer reports a Denial of Service vulnerability within MySQL. The vulnerability is caused by improper checking of the data_format routine, which cause the MySQL server to crash. The crash is triggered by the following code:'SELECT date_format('%d%s', 1);

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200608-09 (MySQL: Denial of Service)

    Jean-David Maillefer discovered a format string vulnerability in     time.cc where MySQL fails to properly handle specially formatted user     input to the date_format function.
  Impact :

    By specifying a format string as the first parameter to the date_format     function, an authenticated attacker could cause MySQL to crash,     resulting in a Denial of Service.
  Workaround :

    There is no known workaround at this time.

According to its version number, the installation of MySQL on the remote host may be prone to multiple buffer overflows.  The MySQL server is also vulnerable to multiple information disclosure flaws.  An attacker exploiting the overflow would need to be able to authenticate to the MySQL server.  An attacker exploiting the information disclosure flaw would only need to be able to send malformed 'login' packets to the server. This version of MySQL is also prone to a remote Denial of Service (DoS) due to an inability to properly parse a malformed call to the date_format function.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
60451	Scientific Linux Security Update : mysql on SL4.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	medium
17800	MySQL < 4.1.21 / 5.0 Denial of Service	Nessus	Databases	medium
33585	RHEL 4 : mysql (RHSA-2008:0768)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	medium
27899	Ubuntu 5.10 : mysql-dfsg-4.1 vulnerability (USN-321-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	medium
3947	Mac OS X < 10.4.9 Multiple Vulnerabilities (Security Update 2007-003)	Nessus Network Monitor	Web Clients	high
24811	Mac OS X < 10.4.9 Multiple Vulnerabilities (Security Update 2007-003)	Nessus	MacOS X Local Security Checks	critical
24656	Slackware 10.2 : mysql (SSA:2006-211-01)	Nessus	Slackware Local Security Checks	medium
22654	Debian DSA-1112-1 : mysql-dfsg-4.1 - several vulnerabilities	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	medium
22213	FreeBSD : mysql -- format string vulnerability (fcb90eb0-2ace-11db-a6e2-000e0c2e438a)	Nessus	FreeBSD Local Security Checks	medium
22167	GLSA-200608-09 : MySQL: Denial of Service	Nessus	Gentoo Local Security Checks	medium
3527	Oracle MySQL Remote Overflow and Information Disclosure Vulnerabilities	Nessus Network Monitor	Database	medium
801163	MySQL Remote Overflow and Information Disclosure Vulnerabilities	Log Correlation Engine	Database	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2006-3469

medium

Tenable Plugins

medium

medium

medium

medium

high

critical

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium