Malicious hackers have launched a zero-day bot attack against default Windows installations of the MySQL database engine, infecting vulnerable systems at the rate of 100 per minute, security experts warned on Thursday.
The bot takes advantage of the publicly released “MySQL UDF Dynamic Library Exploit” to break into the open-source MySQL package. Once a database is hijacked, infected systems will connect to an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server and retrieve propagation instructions.
Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer at the SANS Internet Storm Center, said his handlers discovered more than 8,000 hosts connected to the IRC server during the day on Thursday.
MySQL is a freely available database engine designed to provide fast access to stored data. It is installed on more than 8 million systems worldwide, according to MySQL AB, the Cupertino, Calif.-based firm that develops and manages the program.
Source: eWeek
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