Vulnerabilities
Misconfiguration
Compliance
CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2008-4098

Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')

Published: Sep 18, 2008 | Modified: Apr 09, 2025
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
4.6 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:H/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
3.2 MODERATE
AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
MEDIUM
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Additional information
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-4098
CWEhttps://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/59.html

MySQL before 5.0.67 allows local users to bypass certain privilege checks by calling CREATE TABLE on a MyISAM table with modified (1) DATA DIRECTORY or (2) INDEX DIRECTORY arguments that are originally associated with pathnames without symlinks, and that can point to tables created at a future time at which a pathname is modified to contain a symlink to a subdirectory of the MySQL home data directory. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2008-4097.

Weakness

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
Ubuntu_linuxCanonical6.06 (including)6.06 (including)
Ubuntu_linuxCanonical7.10 (including)7.10 (including)
Ubuntu_linuxCanonical8.04 (including)8.04 (including)
Ubuntu_linuxCanonical8.10 (including)8.10 (including)
Ubuntu_linuxCanonical9.04 (including)9.04 (including)
Ubuntu_linuxCanonical9.10 (including)9.10 (including)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4RedHatmysql-0:4.1.22-2.el4_8.3*
Mysql-dfsg-5.0Ubuntudapper*
Mysql-dfsg-5.0Ubuntufeisty*
Mysql-dfsg-5.0Ubuntugutsy*
Mysql-dfsg-5.0Ubuntuhardy*
Mysql-dfsg-5.0Ubuntuintrepid*
Mysql-dfsg-5.0Ubuntuupstream*

Potential Mitigations

  • Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
  • Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

References

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