[ GLSA 200402-05 ] phpMyAdmin < 2.5.6-rc1: possible attack against export.php

[GLSA]

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Title: phpMyAdmin <2.5.6-rc1: possible attack against export.php (GLSA 200402-05)
Severity: normal
Exploitable: remote
Date: February 17, 2004
Bug(s): #40268
ID: 200402-05

Synopsis

A vulnerability in phpMyAdmin which was not properly verifying user generated input could lead to a directory traversal attack.

Background

phpMyAdmin is a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL databased over the Web.

Affected Packages

Package: dev-db/phpmyadmin
Vulnerable: <= 2.5.5_p1
Unaffected: >= 2.5.6_rc1
Architectures: All supported architectures


Description

One component of the phpMyAdmin software package (export.php) does not properly verify input that is passed to it from a remote user. Since the input is used to include other files, it is possible to launch a directory traversal attack.

Impact

Private information could be gleaned from the remote server if an attacker uses a malformed URL such as http://phpmyadmin.example.com/export.php?what=../../../[existing_file] In this scenario, the script does not sanitize the "what" argument passed to it, allowing directory traversal attacks to take place, disclosing the contents of files if the file is readable as the web-server user.

Workaround

The workaround is to either patch the export.php file using the referenced CVS patch or upgrade the software via Portage.

Resolution

Users are encouraged to upgrade to phpMyAdmin-2.5.6_rc1: