# CVE-2012-4452: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can bypass privilege checks to access or modify data in other tables via symlink manipulation in MyISAM table creation.

- **Severity:** Low 2.1 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Oct 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-552j-94gg-c5pj, RHSA-2013:0121

## What is CVE-2012-4452?

CVE-2012-4452 is a low-severity vulnerability in Oracle Mysql, published on 9 Oct 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

MySQL 5.0.88, and possibly other versions and platforms, allows local users to bypass certain privilege checks by calling CREATE TABLE on a MyISAM table with modified (1) DATA DIRECTORY or (2) INDEX DIRECTORY arguments that are originally associated with pathnames without symlinks, and that can point to tables created at a future time at which a pathname is modified to contain a symlink to a subdirectory of the MySQL data home directory, related to incorrect calculation of the mysql_unpacked_real_data_home value.  NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of a CVE-2009-4030 regression, which was not omitted in other packages and versions such as MySQL 5.0.95 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-4452?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `mysql` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-bench` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-server` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-test` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-bench` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-server` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |
| `mysql-test` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 0:5.0.95-3.el5 |

Products: Oracle Mysql.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-4452?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2012-4452 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4452 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Oracle Mysql

- [CVE-2016-0639](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-0639/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2003-0150](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0150/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2005-2572](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-2572/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2020-14878](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14878/): Auth bypass in MySQL Server (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2002-0969](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0969/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-4452 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-4452 is a low-severity vulnerability in Oracle Mysql, published on 9 Oct 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4452 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Oracle Mysql. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4452/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4452/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-4452
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-4452
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-4452

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4452/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.