Critical Denial of Service Vulnerability in MariaDB - CVE-2017-3238

mariadb Updated 02 Oct 2025

Summary

27/01/2017

Disclosed on

N/A

Severity

Yes i

Fix available

Medium

Severity

6.5

CVSS Score

ALPINE-CVE-2017-3238: Vulnerability in the MySQL Server component of Oracle MySQL (subcomponent: Server: Optimizer). Affects mariadb versions < 10.1.21-r0. Fixed in 10.1.21-r0. How to fix ↓

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Background

MariaDB is an open-source relational database management system that is widely used for web applications and data storage. It is a fork of MySQL and offers enhanced features, performance improvements, and a strong community support. However, certain versions of MariaDB are vulnerable to a critical denial of service (DoS) vulnerability, which can be exploited by attackers to disrupt database operations.

Vulnerability Detail

The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2017-3238, originates from a flaw in the MySQL Server component of Oracle MySQL, specifically in the Server: Optimizer subcomponent. A low-privileged attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability through multiple protocols, leading to unauthorized actions that can cause the MySQL Server to hang or crash repeatedly. This results in a complete denial of service, impacting the availability of the database. The vulnerability affects versions 5.5.53 and earlier, 5.6.34 and earlier, and 5.7.16 and earlier, with a CVSS v3.0 Base Score of 6.5, indicating significant availability impacts.

How To Fix

Minimum fixed version

10.1.21-r0

This is the first release that contains the fix.

sudo apk add --upgrade mariadb

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Workaround

If an immediate update is not possible, consider restricting network access to the MariaDB server to trusted IP addresses only. This can help mitigate the risk of exploitation until the package can be updated.

Conclusion

CVE-2017-3238 is a critical vulnerability in MariaDB that can lead to denial of service attacks. It is crucial for users to update their MariaDB installations to the patched version to ensure the security and availability of their database systems. Implementing network restrictions can serve as a temporary workaround until the update is applied.

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