On examination, your MySQL installation datadir has become recursively world read/write/executable. What are two major concerns of running an installation with incorrect file privileges? (Choose two.)

Question

Options

• AUsers could overwrite configuration files.
• BData files could be deleted.
• CSQL injections could be used to insert bad data into the database.
• DMySQL binaries could be damaged, deleted, or altered.
• EExtra startup time would be required for the MySQL server to reset the privileges.

• A
  15% (3)
• B
  50% (10)
• C
  30% (6)
• D
  5% (1)

Explanation

When the datadir is world-writable, any local system user can directly manipulate files on disk - bypassing MySQL's own access controls entirely - meaning data files can simply be deleted at the OS level (B). MySQL also performs permission checks at startup; insecure or unexpected permissions on the datadir can force MySQL to re-validate or reset its privilege tables, adding overhead to the startup process (E). Options A and D are wrong because MySQL configuration files (e.g., my.cnf) and binaries live in separate directories (/etc/ and /usr/bin/), not in the datadir, so recursive datadir permissions don't affect them. Option C is a red herring - SQL injection is an application-layer attack vector that has nothing to do with filesystem permissions.

Memory tip: Anchor the datadir to what it actually contains - data files only, not configs or binaries. Any threat that requires being in the datadir to matter (deletion, startup privilege checks) is a valid concern; anything outside it is a distractor.

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