trouble with the security of my Xampp installation

Problems with the Windows version of XAMPP, questions, comments, and anything related.

trouble with the security of my Xampp installation

Postby Sheriziya » 06. February 2012 22:37

Hi,

I'm new here and I'm not sure if I can post it here or if I should post it elsewhere, so please move/delete this post if it's posted wrongly :)

I'm still having trouble with the security of my Xampp installation. It does recognize in the status screen that MySQL is installed, but when I go to the security page, it says:
The MySQL server is not running or is blocked by a firewall! Please check this problem first ...


From the control panel (version 3 as linked in this thread) I can click admin for MySQL (once I've started it through the control panel) and it perfectly gives me PhPMyAdmin, so the SQL part is running.
I'm running Xampp on my external network harddrive. I've installed the latest version (1.7.7) and I've installed Control panel version 3 from the newest download link. I had to move the folders and files to the xampp root, otherwise it wouldn't work.
My computer runs on Windows XP sp3.
I do NOT have the services enabled (at least I assume that with the red cross active in the CP, the services are not activated) I've installed xampp through the 7zip (extracted it with 7zip) directly on the hard drive subfolder. So it's NOT in the root. I'm aware of that, but as I understood it, it's not necessary to have it in the root of the harddrive.
I've rebooted my computer and the harddrive, but that didn't help.
I've approved xampp start and stop files and the xampp control panel files in my firewall (F-Secure manager) but that hasn't changed anything either, so now I'm.... stuck.

Is this a problem caused by the Control panel, or is something wrong with my installation altogether?

Thanks for the help!
Sheriziya
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 06. February 2012 20:32
Operating System: Windows XP SP3

Re: *** New XAMPP CONTROL PANEL Version 3 ***

Postby hackattack142 » 06. February 2012 23:27

This does not appear to be a CP issue.

1. phpMyAdmin is hosted in Apache. It will open as long as Apache is running but you will get a message stating that it could not connect if MySQL is not running.

2. Yes, you can install/extract it to a place that is not the root of a drive. If you choose to do that, you need to run "setup_xampp.bat" to correct all the paths in the configuration files and scripts. It was recently found that this process does not correct all the perl script paths so you may run into issues with perl if you need it. The safest place to extract is "C:\xampp".

3. In the past, I have fixed that issue by tweaking the my.ini file in "/xampp/mysql/bin". You may want to take a look at this topic: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=48481&p=186375#p186375

*Mods: The above post as well as this one should be moved to their own thread

[EDIT by MOD Altrea: Posts separated 8) ]
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Re: *** trouble with the security of my Xampp installation *

Postby Sheriziya » 07. February 2012 13:44

@MOD Altrea: Thanks for separating the threads :)
hackattack142 wrote:This does not appear to be a CP issue.

1. phpMyAdmin is hosted in Apache. It will open as long as Apache is running but you will get a message stating that it could not connect if MySQL is not running.

Weird thing: I've started both Apache and the MySQL from the control panel. When I click on the admin button next to MySQL, I get PHP My Admin. It does seem to have everything. I've got the following databases according to PhP My Admin:
Database Ascending
cdcol
information_schema
mysql
performance_schema
phpmyadmin
test
webauth
Total: 7

I assume this means that MySQL is actually running.

The only warning I get is the following on the opening page of PHP My Admin:
Your configuration file contains settings (root with no password) that correspond to the default MySQL privileged account. Your MySQL server is running with this default, is open to intrusion, and you really should fix this security hole by setting a password for user 'root'.

Based on the above I'd assume again that MySQL is indeed running.

Status on http://localhost/xampp/ also states that MySQL Databases are running. (Activated in green block).
Security however still states that there's no dabase running or it's blocked by a firewall:
A MySQL server is not running or is blocked by a firewall! UNKNOWN
A MySQL server is not running or is blocked by a firewall!

MYSQL SECTION: "ROOT" PASSWORD

MySQL SuperUser: root

The MySQL server is not running or is blocked by a firewall! Please check this problem first ...


hackattack142 wrote:2. Yes, you can install/extract it to a place that is not the root of a drive. If you choose to do that, you need to run "setup_xampp.bat" to correct all the paths in the configuration files and scripts. It was recently found that this process does not correct all the perl script paths so you may run into issues with perl if you need it. The safest place to extract is "C:\xampp".

Well, I'm not going to use perl. That is to say, I don't expect that I'll use it. As far as I know wikimedia doesn't use it (or I didn't read the documentation correctly). I'm not going to open up the wiki to anyone because this is a development wiki for a personal project, but I'd like to be sure that everything is safe, just in case. You never know :)
Problem with the root is that my internal harddrive is way to small (old computer with only 60GB of harddrive with Windows XP...... free space is... small. And I've got a few other things running.
The root from my external harddrive is also used by my husband, so it's easier to have the complete installation int he folder for my personal project.
BTW, the external hard drive is not connected to my computer, but to my router instead. It's in the network. I assume that's not a problem and that I don't have to use the portable version of Xampp?

hackattack142 wrote:3. In the past, I have fixed that issue by tweaking the my.ini file in "/xampp/mysql/bin". You may want to take a look at this topic: http://community.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=48481&p=186375#p186375

Going to take this point to point from the posts in the linked thread :) :
1. Like I said above, Status says that Mysql is running. Php MyAdmin says MySql is running, but not protected. Only security page from Xampp says MySQL is not running or blocked by firewall. I have no idea how to tell F-secure Manager (my firewall and anti-virus program) that MySQL is a safe application. I've already approved xampp and the control panel. Is there anything else I can set?
2. I'm not running the services.
3. I have run the setup_xampp.bat file. It seemed to have worked. At least the screen said everything was set at the end. Just to be sure, does it work with an external harddrive which is part of the network through the router instead of directly plugged in in the computer?
4. Before I forget, I'm using xampp-control-3-beta.exe and this is a completely clean install.

Before I start tweaking the ini files like Sharley and you suggested in the other thread, I'd like to make nothing else is wrong with my setup (i.e. I should have installed the portable version instead of the normalversion). Especially since I don't have a deactivated problem, but only a problem with the security as everything else seems to be accessible.
Sheriziya
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 06. February 2012 20:32
Operating System: Windows XP SP3

Re: trouble with the security of my Xampp installation

Postby hackattack142 » 08. February 2012 02:20

well, it sounds like it is working fine. Once you set a root password, that page will tell you the same thing because it will no longer be able to automatically login to do the check. You can easily set a root password by doing to the xampp security page again and clicking the link > http://localhost/security/xamppsecurity.php
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Re: trouble with the security of my Xampp installation

Postby Sheriziya » 08. February 2012 13:27

hackattack142 wrote:well, it sounds like it is working fine. Once you set a root password, that page will tell you the same thing because it will no longer be able to automatically login to do the check. You can easily set a root password by doing to the xampp security page again and clicking the link > http://localhost/security/xamppsecurity.php

Ah yes, but therein lies exactly my problem. Like I stated in my original post:
Sheriziya wrote:I'm still having trouble with the security of my Xampp installation. It does recognize in the status screen that MySQL is installed, but when I go to the security page, it says:
The MySQL server is not running or is blocked by a firewall! Please check this problem first ...


So errrr.... I can NOT set a password from the security page. Since the installation is correct, as you say, is there another way to set the password or is it being encrypted from the security page?

Thanks again for all your help! It's good to know what things you have to check to see if something's installed wrong or simply not working correctly :)

Warm regards,
Sheriziya
Sheriziya
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 06. February 2012 20:32
Operating System: Windows XP SP3

Re: trouble with the security of my Xampp installation

Postby hackattack142 » 08. February 2012 14:48

You can try binding it to localhost as this sometimes fixes that issue.

Open your my.ini file (/xampp/mysql/bin/my.ini) and change
Code: Select all
#bind-address="127.0.0.1"

to
Code: Select all
bind-address="127.0.0.1"

and restart MySQL if it is running.

You can also do it manually http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/ ... sions.html
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Re: trouble with the security of my Xampp installation

Postby Sheriziya » 08. February 2012 18:31

hackattack142 wrote:You can try binding it to localhost as this sometimes fixes that issue.

Open your my.ini file (/xampp/mysql/bin/my.ini) and change
Code: Select all
#bind-address="127.0.0.1"

to
Code: Select all
bind-address="127.0.0.1"

and restart MySQL if it is running.

Yes! This worked!!!!!! Thanks for the awesome help :) I'm so glad I got the security up and running as well.

Warm regards,
Sheriziya
Sheriziya
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 06. February 2012 20:32
Operating System: Windows XP SP3


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