CVE-2016-6664 Path traversal in n/a
Local attackers with mysql account access can gain root privileges via symlink attacks on error logs when file-based logging is enabled.
- 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
What is CVE-2016-6664?
CVE-2016-6664 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Mariadb Mariadb, published on 13 Dec 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
mysqld_safe in Oracle MySQL through 5.5.51, 5.6.x through 5.6.32, and 5.7.x through 5.7.14; MariaDB; Percona Server before 5.5.51-38.2, 5.6.x before 5.6.32-78-1, and 5.7.x before 5.7.14-8; and Percona XtraDB Cluster before 5.5.41-37.0, 5.6.x before 5.6.32-25.17, and 5.7.x before 5.7.14-26.17, when using file-based logging, allows local users with access to the mysql account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on error logs and possibly other files.
Weakness: CWE-59
Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-6664?
It affects 4 products.
Products include Mariadb Mariadb, Oracle Mysql, Percona Percona Server, Percona Xtradb Cluster.
How do I fix CVE-2016-6664?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2016-6664 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-6664 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 Exploit-DB entry.
Other vulnerabilities in Mariadb Mariadb
- CVE-2026-49261 MariaDB server has unsafe parameter handling in `wsrep_notify_cmd`
- CVE-2026-85746 MariaDB: Out-of-bound buffer write on in `ST_AsText` of nested GeometryCollections
- CVE-2026-85748 MariaDB: Use-after-free with a large number of SYS_REFCURSOR's
- CVE-2026-92262 MariaDB: Numerous issues caused by historical #mysql50# tablename encoding bypass.
- CVE-2023-26785 Code injection in n/a
Sources
Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2016-6664, CVE-2016-5617, GHSA-f9x4-3x96-w2vf, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-6664.