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Percona ServerApplication · Percona

CVE-2019-12301

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-05-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The Percona Server 5.6.44-85.0-1 packages for Debian and Ubuntu suffered an issue where the server would reset the root password to a blank value upon an upgrade. This was fixed in 5.6.44-85.0-2.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

In Percona Server 5.6.44-85.0-1 packages for Debian and Ubuntu, the upgrade process contained a bug that reset the root password to a blank (empty) value. This allows unauthenticated attackers to gain root access to the database.

MitigationUpgrade to Percona Server 5.6.44-85.0-2 or later to resolve the upgrade script bug. After any upgrade, verify the root password is properly set and not blank; immediately change it if compromised.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Percona ServerApplication
Affected:= 5.6.44-85.0-1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Percona Server version
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep percona-server' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'rpm -qa | grep percona-server' (RHEL/CentOS) to list installed Percona Server packages and their exact version numbers
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 5.6.44-85.0-1
  2. Check if upgrade was performed from this package
    Review apt/dpkg history logs: 'grep percona-server /var/log/dpkg.log' or 'grep upgrade /var/log/dpkg.log' to see if package 5.6.44-85.0-1 was installed via upgrade
    Affected if Package 5.6.44-85.0-1 was installed as part of an upgrade operation on the system
  3. Verify root password is not blank
    Attempt to connect to MySQL as root with no password: 'mysql -u root' (without -p flag). If authentication succeeds without a password, the root password is blank
    Affected if Root user can authenticate to MySQL without providing any password (empty string accepted)
  4. Check authentication plugin configuration
    Run SQL query 'SELECT user, host, authentication_string, plugin FROM mysql.user WHERE user="root";' to examine root account authentication settings
    Affected if The root account shows empty authentication_string or uses auth_socket or mysql_native_password with empty/hash value

You are affected if Percona Server 5.6.44-85.0-1 was installed via upgrade and the root MySQL password is blank/empty, allowing unauthenticated access.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to Percona Server 5.6.44-85.0-2 or later to resolve the upgrade script bug. After any upgrade, verify the root password is properly set and not blank; immediately change it if compromised.

Recommended fix High confidence

Percona Server 5.6.44-85.0-2 or later

  1. Update package repository indices: sudo apt-get update
  2. Upgrade Percona Server to the fixed version: sudo apt-get install percona-server-5.6=5.6.44-85.0-2*
  3. Verify the installed version: dpkg -l | grep percona-server
  4. After upgrade, re-set the root password if needed using: mysqladmin -u root password 'new_secure_password'
  5. Restart the MySQL service to ensure all changes take effect: sudo service mysql restart
Caveat Standard MySQL upgrade considerations apply - backup databases before upgrading; test in staging environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Percona Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-12301 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data