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Caldera Systems Security Advisory: MySQL password handling

[ Note: We apologize for being late in bringing you this
security advisory. lt-ed. ]

Caldera Systems, Inc. Security Advisory

Subject: MySQL password handling
Advisory number: CSSA-2000-001.0
Issue date: 2000 January, 31
Cross reference:


1. Problem Description

Anyone with access to a running MySQL server and GRANT privilege
for any database or table in the MySQL server, can change any
MySQL-password he wishes, including the MySQL superuser’s.

A malicious user with access to run processes on the machine
where MySQL server is running can hijack the entire database. Even
without access to run processes on the machine a malicious user can
mount a denial of service attack on the server by setting the MySQL
superuser’s password to a random string.

2. Vulnerable Versions

Systems : OpenLinux eServer 2.3
Packages: previous to mysql-3.22.30-1S

OpenLinux Desktop 2.3 is not affected.

3. Solutions

The proper solution is to upgrade to the latest packages

rpm -F mysql-devel-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
rpm -F mysql-bench-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
rpm -F –force mysql-client-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
rpm -F mysql-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm

4. Location of Fixed Packages

The upgrade packages can be found on Caldera’s FTP site at:


ftp://ftp.calderasystems.com/pub/eServer/updates/2.3/current/RPMS/

The corresponding source code package can be found at:


ftp://ftp.calderaystems.com/pub/eServer/updates/2.3/current/SRPMS

5. Installing Fixed Packages

Upgrade the affected packages with the following commands:

rpm -F mysql-devel-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
rpm -F mysql-bench-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
rpm -F –force mysql-client-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
rpm -F mysql-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm

6. Verification

14e8bf07c14509ea50dea871ca11f9ae RPMS/mysql-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
6e9bf353f2525627a7c282de513df203 RPMS/mysql-bench-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
b85c09d8873bf72345dc3a5b3ddc2f36 RPMS/mysql-client-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
ddd594820dcd933e4262815c449ec8f7 RPMS/mysql-devel-3.22.30-1S.i386.rpm
311adde3d8d9b4a2a5c01fc870fddc59 SRPMS/mysql-3.22.30-1S.src.rpm

7. References

This and other Caldera security resources are located at:

http://www.calderasystems.com/support/security/index.html

8. Disclaimer

Caldera Systems, Inc. is not responsible for the misuse of any
of the information we provide on this website and/or through our
security advisories. Our advisories are a service to our customers
intended to promote secure installation and use of Caldera
OpenLinux.

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