Updated MySQL packages fix vulnerabilities

Updated MySQL server packages for IBM iSeries and pSeries systems fix a
number of security issues.

MySQL is a multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database server.

A double-free vulnerability in mysqld, for MySQL before version 3.23.55,
allows attackers with MySQL access to cause a denial of service (crash) by
creating a carefully crafted client application. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0073 to this issue.

MySQL 3.23.55 and earlier creates world-writable files and allows mysql
users to gain root privileges by using the "SELECT * INFO OUTFILE" operator
to overwrite a configuration file and cause mysql to run as root upon
restart. (CAN-2003-0150)

A signed integer vulnerability in the COM_TABLE_DUMP package for MySQL
3.x to 3.23.53a allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service
(crash or hang) in mysqld by causing large negative integers to be provided
to a memcpy call. (CAN-2002-1373)

The COM_CHANGE_USER command in MySQL 3.x to 3.23.53a and 4.x to
4.0.5a allows a remote attacker to gain privileges via a brute force
attack using a one-character password. This causes MySQL to only compare
the provided password against the first character of the real
password. (CAN-2002-1374)

The COM_CHANGE_USER command in MySQL 3.x to 3.23.53a and 4.x to
4.0.5a allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a long
response. (CAN-2002-1375)

The MySQL client library (libmysqlclient) in MySQL 3.x to 3.23.53a and 4.x
to 4.0.5a does not properly verify length fields for certain responses
in the read_rows or read_one_row routines, which allows a malicious server
to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary
code. (CAN-2002-1376)

All users of MySQL are advised to upgrade to MySQL 3.23.56 contained within
this errata, which is not vulnerable to these issues.

In addition to the security fixes, these erratum packages contain a
thread safe client library (libmysqlclient_r).

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

Please note that this update is available via Red Hat Network. To use Red
Hat Network, launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2002-1373
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2002-1374
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2002-1375
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2002-1376
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2003-0073
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2003-0150
http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/News-3.23.55.html
http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/News-3.23.56.html
http://security.e-matters.de/advisories/042002.html