Thread: Why are there pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd error_log ? (Postgres 8.3.7 on CentOS 5)

Why are there pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd error_log ? (Postgres 8.3.7 on CentOS 5)

From
Aleksey Tsalolikhin
Date:
Hi.  I just found pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd log and am really
confused.   Has anybody seen this before?

My syslog.conf does not mention the httpd error_log.

How did the errors get in there?

# grep pg_dump /var/log/httpd/error_log
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
proceed anyway.)
#

Thanks,
Aleksey

Aleksey Tsalolikhin escribió:
> Hi.  I just found pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd log and am really
> confused.   Has anybody seen this before?

Somebody may have tried to abuse some PHP script or similar?

--
Alvaro Herrera                                http://www.CommandPrompt.com/
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.

postgres throws exceptions and outputs errors to STDERR

httpd.conf logs stderr to logs/error.log
#
# ErrorLog: The location of the error log file.
# If you do not specify an ErrorLog directive within a <VirtualHost>
# container, error messages relating to that virtual host will be
# logged here.  If you *do* define an error logfile for a <VirtualHost>
# container, that host's errors will be logged there and not here.
#
ErrorLog logs/error.log

Martin Gainty
______________________________________________
Verzicht und Vertraulichkeitanmerkung/Note de déni et de confidentialité
 
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> Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 12:37:40 -0800
> Subject: [GENERAL] Why are there pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd error_log ? (Postgres 8.3.7 on CentOS 5)
> From: atsaloli.tech@gmail.com
> To: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
>
> Hi. I just found pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd log and am really
> confused. Has anybody seen this before?
>
> My syslog.conf does not mention the httpd error_log.
>
> How did the errors get in there?
>
> # grep pg_dump /var/log/httpd/error_log
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
> #
>
> Thanks,
> Aleksey
>
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Aleksey Tsalolikhin wrote:
> Hi.  I just found pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd log and am really
> confused.   Has anybody seen this before?
>

are you running some some of CMS or whatever that uses Postgres?  Does
it have a backup feature?   or phppgadmin, perhaps?


> My syslog.conf does not mention the httpd error_log.
>
>

apache creates that file itself, per its ErrorLog primitive...





Aleksey Tsalolikhin wrote:
> Hi.  I just found pg_dump errors in my Apache httpd log and am really
> confused.   Has anybody seen this before?
>
> My syslog.conf does not mention the httpd error_log.
>
> How did the errors get in there?
>
> # grep pg_dump /var/log/httpd/error_log
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
> proceed anyway.)
>
These are definitely outputs from phppgadmin.  When you run an export in
that application, it uses pg_dump if it's found.  It looks like it's
finding it with a different version that the server it's dumping from.
I can't remember under what circumstances it writes files to disk, but
it's trying that and denied the privilege.

Regards

Russell

Thank you for your replies.  We don't have a CMS and none of our PHP
scripts call pg_dump so I am concerned about the security of our
system.


On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 1:00 PM, Russell Smith <mr-russ@pws.com.au> wrote:
> Aleksey Tsalolikhin wrote:
>>
>> # grep pg_dump /var/log/httpd/error_log
>> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
>> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
>> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
>> pg_dump: [archiver] could not open output file: Permission denied
>> pg_dump: server version: X.X.X; pg_dump version: Y.Y.Y
>> pg_dump: aborting because of version mismatch  (Use the -i option to
>> proceed anyway.)
>>
> These are definitely outputs from phppgadmin.

How can you tell, please?  It looks like output form pg_dump to me.

We don't have phppgadmin installed on this system.

# find / -print|grep -i phppgadmin
#

Anyway, "grep -r pg_dump $DOCROOT" turned up that one of our PHP
developers was trying to do a pg_dump in his code before making
changes "just in case, so he could roll back".

Sigh of relief.  Wipes sweat off brow.

Thanks all.  :)

Best,
-at