CVE-1999-1188 is a vulnerability found in MySQL version 3.21, where the mysqld daemon creates log files with world-readable permissions. This misconfiguration allows any local user on the affected system to read these log files. Since the log files contain sensitive information, including passwords for users added to the MySQL user database, this vulnerability leads to a confidentiality breach. An attacker with local access can obtain these passwords without requiring authentication or elevated privileges beyond local user access. The vulnerability impacts the confidentiality, integrity, and availability triad to a medium extent, as it exposes sensitive credentials (confidentiality), potentially allows unauthorized changes if credentials are misused (integrity), and could lead to denial of service if exploited further (availability). The CVSS score of 4.6 reflects this medium severity, with the attack vector being local (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no authentication required (Au:N), and partial impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:P/I:P/A:P). No patches are available for this vulnerability, and there are no known exploits in the wild, likely due to the age of the software and the requirement for local access. However, the vulnerability remains relevant in legacy systems still running MySQL 3.21 or similar configurations. Given the age of MySQL 3.21 (released in the late 1990s), modern MySQL versions have addressed this issue, but organizations running outdated versions remain at risk.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability primarily concerns legacy systems still operating MySQL 3.21. If such systems are used in production or contain sensitive data, local users or attackers who gain local access could extract database user passwords, leading to unauthorized database access. This could result in data breaches, unauthorized data modification, or further lateral movement within the network. In regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, or critical infrastructure, exposure of credentials could lead to compliance violations under GDPR and other data protection regulations, resulting in legal and financial penalties. Although the vulnerability requires local access, insider threats or attackers exploiting other vulnerabilities to gain local access could leverage this issue. The lack of available patches means organizations must rely on compensating controls. The threat is mitigated in environments where MySQL is properly updated and where local user access is tightly controlled. However, in environments with legacy systems, the risk remains significant.

1. Upgrade MySQL to a supported, modern version where this vulnerability is resolved. Versions post-3.21 have corrected log file permission issues. 2. If upgrading is not immediately possible, restrict local user access to systems running MySQL 3.21 to trusted administrators only. 3. Manually adjust file system permissions on MySQL log files to restrict read access exclusively to the MySQL service account or administrators. 4. Implement strict access controls and monitoring on servers running legacy MySQL versions to detect unauthorized local access attempts. 5. Use file integrity monitoring tools to alert on changes to log file permissions or unexpected access. 6. Consider isolating legacy MySQL servers in segmented network zones with limited access to reduce the risk of lateral movement. 7. Regularly audit user accounts and privileges on affected systems to minimize the number of local users who could exploit this vulnerability. 8. Employ host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) to detect suspicious local activities that could indicate exploitation attempts.