MySQLDatabase / datastore · Oracle

CVE-2024-21171

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-07-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 8.4.0 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
Vulnerability in the MySQL Server product of Oracle MySQL (component: Server: Optimizer). Supported versions that are affected are 8.0.37 and prior and 8.4.0 and prior. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via multiple protocols to compromise MySQL Server. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of MySQL Server. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 6.5 (Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

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

Denial of Service vulnerability in MySQL Server's Optimizer component. A low-privileged attacker with network access can exploit this flaw to cause the MySQL server to hang or crash repeatedly.

MitigationApply Oracle's critical patch update by upgrading MySQL to version 8.0.38 or later (for the 8.0.x branch) or 8.4.1 or later (for the 8.4.x branch), or later supported patch versions.

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
MySQLDatabase / datastore
Affected:>= 8.0.0, <= 8.0.37>= 8.1.0, <= 8.4.0

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Check MySQL Server version
    Run the command: SELECT VERSION(); or mysqld --version at the server command line
    Affected if The version falls within 8.0.0 through 8.0.37, or 8.1.0 through 8.4.0 (inclusive)
  2. Confirm MySQL network listener is active
    Check the mysql process is listening on a network port (default 3306). Run: SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'port'; or checknetstat -an | grep 3306
    Affected if Network access is enabled (this is the default configuration)
  3. Verify low-privilege user accounts exist
    Run: SELECT user, host, plugin FROM mysql.user WHERE user NOT IN ('root','mysql.sys','mysqlxsys');
    Affected if Any non-admin user accounts exist in the MySQL database (common default condition)

You are affected if your MySQL version is 8.0.0-8.0.37 or 8.1.0-8.4.0 and the server accepts network connections, which is the default state.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 8.4.0
Interim mitigation

Apply Oracle's critical patch update by upgrading MySQL to version 8.0.38 or later (for the 8.0.x branch) or 8.4.1 or later (for the 8.4.x branch), or later supported patch versions.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

MySQL Server 8.0.38+ or 8.4.1+ (depending on your major version branch)

  1. 1. Back up all MySQL databases before performing any upgrade.
  2. 2. Review Oracle's MySQL upgrade documentation for your current version.
  3. 3. For MySQL 8.0.x users: Upgrade to MySQL Server 8.0.38 or later.
  4. 4. For MySQL 8.1.x/8.4.x users: Upgrade to MySQL Server 8.4.1 or later.
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify the MySQL service starts successfully and test critical workloads.
  6. 6. Confirm the vulnerability is resolved by checking the MySQL server version.
Caveat Minor version upgrades typically maintain backward compatibility but always test in a staging environment first

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

Fix this in MySQL Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,300
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,680.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-21171 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2024-21171 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data