[vox-tech] Simple MySQL security [was mysql: printing all users and databases]

[Tim Riley]

On Mon, 2004-03-15 at 09:03, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> thanks tim,
> 
> i'll give it a try.  i have to say, i'm a little disheartened with
> mysql.  i just want it to "work" and be secure.
Simple MySQL security is achievable if you utilize the security
features of Linux.
> 
> from reading the docs, it _appears_ (although it doesn't say explicitly)
> that not only does each username have a password, each user has a
> password for each hostname.  so 'root'@'localhost' may have a different
> password than 'root'@'someotherhost'.  that's just too bizarre for my
> mind.
I maintain my own user table (myuser for example) and access
MySQL as user=root. Moreover, I place root's password in a
file in "/etc" and remove all permissions except for the owner.
The executables that access MySQL then read the password from
this file.

Currently, all accesses to the executables are limited to port 80 using
CGI. So no special permissions need to be placed on the
executables. However, if I were to grant shell accounts for users,
I would set the SUID bit with "chmod u+s" to allow the
executables to safely read the password file.

> 
<snip>