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Security Advisor shows the warning: "The MySQL service is currently configured to listen on all interfaces"

Aaron Horsley
  • Updated

Symptoms

Security Advisor in WHM shows the following warning.

The MySQL service is currently configured to listen on a public address: (bind-address=*)
Configure bind-address=127.0.0.1 in /etc/my.cnf or use the server’s firewall to restrict access to TCP port “3306”.

 

Description

A malicious actor could take advantage of the server when unrestricted access is allowed to TCP port 3306. The MySQL service should only listen on the loopback address unless needed for a specific external connection.

 

Workaround

  1. Access the server's command line as the 'root' user via SSH or the "Terminal" application in WHM.
  2. Edit /etc/my.cnf with your preferred text editor.
  3. Change the bind-address value to 127.0.0.1. 
     bind-address=127.0.0.1
  4. Save the changes and exit the text editor.
  5. Restart the MySQL service using the following command. 
    /scripts/restartsrv_mysql

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