Critical MySQL Zero-Days Discovered CVE-2016-6662 & CVE-2016-6663

Recently, two critical MySQL zero-day vulnerabilities were discovered by Polish security researcher Dawid Golunski. Reportedly, CVE-2016-6662 and CVE-2016-6663 affect all currently supported MySQL versions as well as popular forks MariaDB and Percona. How big is this threat? Well considering that MySQL is the world’s most popular open source database, underpinning businesses such as Facebook, Google, Adobe, Alcatel Lucent, Zappos, and many more, I would say it’s a pretty big deal. "A successful exploitation [of CVE-2016-6662] could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code with root privileges which would then allow them to fully compromise the server on which an affected version of MySQL is running," Golunski explained. To aid with the identification and remediation planning for these critical vulnerabilities, BeyondTrust Retina now includes the following audits:

• 60233 - Oracle MySQL Remote Code Execution (Zero Day) - Windows
• 60234 - Oracle MySQL Remote Code Execution (Zero Day) - Unix/Linux
• 60235 - MySQL Remote Code Execution (Zero Day) - Database
• 60236 - Oracle MySQL Remote Code Execution (Zero Day) – Remote

If you would like to run a report showing only your affected systems, simply build an Audit Group with these four audits or a Vulnerability Smart Rule to target MySQL and any of its forked variants. Are there fixes available from the vendors affected? MariaDB and Percona have both published fixes. However, even though Golunski reported the zero-day flaws to Oracle on July 29^th, they have not yet released a patch. Although it’s likely that Oracle’s next scheduled critical patch update, on October 18^th, will include a fix. In the meantime, as a temporary stop gap, “users should ensure that no MySQL config files are owned by the mysql user, and create root-owned dummy my.cnf files that are not in use.” (Golunski) Retina CS is the only solution designed to provide context-aware vulnerability assessment and risk analysis across network, web, mobile, cloud and virtual infrastructures. Want to learn how Retina’s cutting-edge capabilities can keep you ahead of vulnerabilities like these and much more? Download our latest white paper, 10 Reasons to Rethink Your Vulnerability Management. Or request a demo or free trial, by contacting us today!