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MySQL Database	4.1 Access Restriction from root

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Protect your socket-running MySQL database from public

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands:
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h quartus.example.net password 'new-password'

You might have seen this note after a MySQL installation and ... have ignored it. It's hard to find such an advice later. But even if you have set two passwords with these commands above, it was probably not enough.
It might not fully protect your database in case you're running MySQL against a TCP port which is accessible from outside. This could just protect unauthorized access from localhost users. A full access from outside might work without the need to enter a password.

To verify your current status, connect with mysql -D mysql and then enter

SELECT host,user,password FROM user WHERE user='root';

A similar result as the following is very bad:

+----------------+------+------------------+
| host           | user | password         |
+----------------+------+------------------+
| localhost      | root | 57a1d59f2a2a8558 |
| %              | root |                  |
+----------------+------+------------------+

This means you had to enter a password from localhost but from anywhere in the world no password is required.

In such a case, enter these commands to protect your database:

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'%';
mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('yourpass') WHERE User='root' AND Host='%';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

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See also:

• MySQL Protection - Reference
  It's not enough to enter a mysqladmin -u root password yourpass command after an installation of MySQL.
  infocopter.com/know-how/mysql/protection.html
  
  
• General Guidelines for MYSQL Security - Reference
  When should you start to worry about MySQL security? When you start to use the MySQL server over an Internet connection. Why? Because that is when your MySQL server is going to be the most vulnerable to all kinds of attacks, such as alterations and denial of service.
  devshed.com/c/a/MySQL/MySQL-Security-Overview/
  
  
• Reset root PW:
  

  mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('') WHERE User='root' AND Host='localhost';
  mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
  

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