CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2008-4098

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

Published: Sep 18, 2008 | Modified: Dec 17, 2019
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
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

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

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Ubuntu_linux Canonical 6.06 (including) 6.06 (including)
Ubuntu_linux Canonical 7.10 (including) 7.10 (including)
Ubuntu_linux Canonical 8.04 (including) 8.04 (including)
Ubuntu_linux Canonical 8.10 (including) 8.10 (including)
Ubuntu_linux Canonical 9.04 (including) 9.04 (including)
Ubuntu_linux Canonical 9.10 (including) 9.10 (including)

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