[9590] in bugtraq
KSR[T] Advisory #10: mSQL ServerStats
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dave G.)
Mon Feb 15 12:37:52 1999
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 04:56:24 -0500
Reply-To: "Dave G." <dhg@KSRT.ORG>
From: "Dave G." <dhg@KSRT.ORG>
To: BUGTRAQ@NETSPACE.ORG
KSR[T] Security Advisories
http://www.ksrt.org
ksrt@ksrt.org
---
KSR[T] Advisory #010
Date: Feb. 15, 1999
ID #: msql-info-010
Affected Program: mSQL (Mini SQL) 2.0.6 and below
Operating System(s): UNIX (Not vendor specific)
Summary: Remote attackers could potentially gain read and/or
access to databases by retrieving authentication
information that is displayed in the response to a
remote statistics query.
Problem Description: mSQL is a database engine (available from
http://www.hughes.com.au) that supports a subset of
the ANSI SQL query specifications. If remote
access is enabled (as of 2.0.4.1 remote access is
disabled by default) a remote user can retrieve
sensitive information.
By sending a ServerStats request, a remote attacker
can view the following information about the msqld
process:
1. The connection table
This table is a 'finger' like display of users
connected to the server, which databases they
are accessing, what hosts they are accessing
the server from, and other less critical
pieces of information.
Since mSQL uses either host based and/or user
based authentication, this table reveals all
of the necessary components to access a
particular database. This is only true if a
user is accessing a database at the time of a
query.
2. The server version
This allows an attacker to determine if a
machine is running a vulnerable version of
mSQL.
3. The current and maximum number of connections
These two pieces of information can be used to
launch an efficient denial of service attack.
4. The user name and user id of the msqld process
These two pieces of information provide
information about the underlying operating
system.
Compromise: If host based access control is disabled, a
remote attacker can use the user names listed in
the connection table to access databases. If host
based access control is enabled, a remote attacker
could launch a more complex attack (like DNS cache
poisoning) to access mSQL databases.
Notes: We would like to thank David J. Hughes and Window
Snyder for their assistance with this advisory.
Patch/Fix: The latest version of mSQL (2.0.7) scheduled for
release on February 15th, 1999 has disabled remote
statistics gathering.
