Follow @Openwall on Twitter for new release announcements and other news
[<prev] [next>] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2017 23:53:29 +0100
From: pali@...n.org
To: oss-security@...ts.openwall.com
Subject: Use after free in libmysqlclient.so

Hello, I would like to report problem related to MySQL/MariaDB and 
possibly asking for assigning CVE if this list is the right place.

C client library for MySQL (libmysqlclient.so) has use-after-free defect 
which can cause crash of applications using that MySQL client.

Defect occurs by calling mysql_close() function from libmysqlclient.so. 
If mysql_close() is called before calling all mysql_stmt_close() (for 
all allocated stmts), then following mysql_stmt_close() call try to 
write to already released memory. mysql_close() let dangling pointer 
exist for prepared statements. Real problem is in function 
mysql_prune_stmt_list() which incorrectly iterate over elements. 
Function list_add() overwrite ->next pointer of current element which 
overwrite next element for iteration.

Basically it is just wrong usage of linked list structure.

Languages in which is not guaranteed order of executing destructor of 
created objects have a big problem as such writing to memory pointed by 
dangling can cause crash of whole application.

E.g. libmysqlclient.so used by perl DBD::mysql driver cause crash of 
whole perl process with simple script:

perl -MDBI -e '
$dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:mysql:", "root", undef,
                    {RaiseError => 1, mysql_server_prepare => 1});
$sth1 = $dbh->prepare("SELECT 1");
$sth2 = $dbh->prepare("USE mysql");
$dbh->disconnect;
$dbh = undef;
'
Segmentation fault

Tested on amd64 Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with perl 5.14.2. To reproduce change 
username, password and host where is running mysql server. Valgrind can 
prove that memory corruption really occurs.

This defect was fixed in MySQL 5.6.21 and MySQL 5.7.5 releases. But is 
present in all MySQL 5.5 versions (and also older) and appropriate older 
5.6 and 5.7 versions. MySQL 5.5 is still used, supported and included in 
lot of linux distributions.

Moreover this defect is present also in MariaDB releases. I tested all 
last major versions 10.2.3, 10.1.21, 10.0.29, 5.5.54 and all those are 
affected.

MySQL and MariaDB provides also standalone package with only C client 
library libmysqlclient.so (without server) under name "Connector/C" and 
so appropriate versions of it are affected too. 

I found that this defected was fixed in MySQL git repository by commit:
https://github.com/mysql/mysql-server/commit/4797ea0b772d5f4c5889bc552424132806f46e93

That commit can be easily applied to last MySQL 5.5.54 version and fixes 
this defect.

Looks like problem was already reported and is publically available in 
MySQL bug tracker, see more details on links:
https://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=70429
https://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=63363
(tickets are closed despite fact that MySQL 5.5 and older are not fixed)

---

I reported this problem to Oracle secalert_us@...cle.com two months ago, 
but they did absolutely nothing for fixing it in MySQL 5.5. Instead they 
started resending this problem to some random people with @cpan.org 
address for unknown reason. And told me to not disclose information 
about this defect. Resending does not look like normal handling of 
security related problem! Therefore I suggest other people to not 
wasting time reporting problems to Oracle for open source applications.

As two months is really long time to fix such problem which was already 
fixed in new versions; it is already publically disclosed in MySQL bug 
tracker; fix available in public git; problem is in major MariaDB 
versions; fix is small; and this is open source product included in many 
linux distributions I decided to send information to oss-security.

Powered by blists - more mailing lists

Please check out the Open Source Software Security Wiki, which is counterpart to this mailing list.

Confused about mailing lists and their use? Read about mailing lists on Wikipedia and check out these guidelines on proper formatting of your messages.