phpMyAdmin: Multiple vulnerabilities

Background

phpMyAdmin is a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL databases from a web-browser.

Description

Nicolas Gregoire (exaprobe.com) has discovered two vulnerabilities that exist only on a webserver where PHP safe_mode is off. These vulnerabilities could lead to command execution or file disclosure.

Impact

On a system where external MIME-based transformations are enabled, an attacker can insert offensive values in MySQL, which would start a shell when the data is browsed. On a system where the UploadDir is enabled, read_dump.php could use the unsanitized sql_localfile variable to disclose a file.

Workaround

You can temporarily enable PHP safe_mode or disable external MIME-based transformation AND disable the UploadDir. But instead, we strongly advise to update your version to 2.6.1_rc1.

Resolution

All phpMyAdmin users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-db/phpmyadmin-2.6.1_rc1"