CVE-2005-1636 MySQL mysql_install_db Symlink Arbitrary File Overwrite

Timeline :

Vulnerability discovered by Eric Romang the 2005-05-07
Vendor notified the 2005-05-09
Coordinated vulnerability disclosure the 2005-05-17

Reference(s) :

CVE-2005-1636
OSVDB-16689

Affected version(s) :

MySQL before or equal to 4.0.12
MySQL before or equal to 5.0.4

Description :

mysql_install_db in MySQL 4.1.x before 4.1.12 and 5.x up to 5.0.4 creates the mysql_install_db.X file with a predictable filename and insecure permissions, which allows local users to execute arbitrary SQL commands by modifying the file’s contents.