Database named as 'New' causes PHP fatal error

[MauricioFauth]

Describe the bug

Database named as 'New' causes PHP fatal error.
This is dependent on the language that has been set. See screenshots.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Create a database called 'New'
2. Click on the 'New' database in the navigation menu
3. See error

Expected behavior

The database should open like any other.

Screenshots

Server configuration

• Operating system: Linux Mint 19
• Web server: PHP 7.2.11 Server
• Database version: MariaDB 10.3.10
• PHP version: PHP 7.2.11
• phpMyAdmin version: QA_4_8 and master

Client configuration

• Browser: Google Chrome
• Operating system: Linux Mint 19

Additional context

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined method PhpMyAdmin\Navigation\Nodes\Node::getHiddenItems() in libraries/classes/Navigation/NavigationTree.php:581
Stack trace:
#0 libraries/classes/Navigation/NavigationTree.php(355): PhpMyAdmin\Navigation\NavigationTree->_addDbContainers(Object(PhpMyAdmin\Navigation\Nodes\Node), '', 0)
#1 libraries/classes/Navigation/NavigationTree.php(309): PhpMyAdmin\Navigation\NavigationTree->_buildPathPart(Array, '', 0, '', 0)
#2 libraries/classes/Navigation/NavigationTree.php(891): PhpMyAdmin\Navigation\NavigationTree->_buildPath()
#3 libraries/classes/Navigation/Navigation.php(67): PhpMyAdmin\Navigation\NavigationTree->renderPath()
#4 navigation.php(79): PhpMyAdmin\Navigation\Navigation->getDisplay()
#5 {main}
  thrown in libraries/classes/Navigation/NavigationTree.php on line 581

[computerManiac]

Hey, can I try solving this ?

[MauricioFauth]

@computerManiac Of course you can. Don't forget to use QA_4_9 branch as the base branch.

[nmilo]

Some info on this issue. First parameter passed to _addDbContainers function should be of class NodeDatabase instead of Node. I will try to trace this issue further.

[williamdes]

$cfg['ShowCreateDb'] = false;

and the error disappears

[nina-py]

This is a curious bug - I have just figured out where exactly the error originates from. As the initial report says, the name of the database has to match the string "New" in English or whatever string this is translated to in other locales for the fatal error to appear. It is case-sensitive as well so probably doesn't really happen in the wild that often given that database names are usually lower case.

An array of NodeDatabase objects is successfully created and added as children to the node tree, so the correct NodeDatabase object for the "New" database does exist in the tree. We just never get it back. What happens instead is the following:

• NavigationTree->buildPath() iterates through the NodeDatabase objects and calls NavigationTree->buildPathPart() for each of them, passing path[0] ("New") for the database in question.

• NavigationTree->buildPathPart() runs $db = $this->tree->getChild($path[0]); (line 380), which iterates through the children and gets the first node with the name "New" back, which happens to be the top one that leads you to the page where you can create a new database, NOT the database with the same name.

• This returned child node is of class Node, not NodeDatabase, so on line 388 $this->addDbContainers() falls over with a fatal error.

I'm not quite sure what to do with a tree that has two nodes with the same name (and the same realName property as well), perhaps adding a check in Node->getChild() for the type of object that is expected back is warranted?

Hope this helps!

[williamdes]

Hi @nina-py

Thank you so much for your precious debug !, could you try to fix this issue using our QA_5_0 branch ?

[nina-py]

Hi @williamdes, I'm not sure what would be a good fix for it though as I'm just getting familiar with the codebase. A possible workaround would be to block users from creating databases named with the magic "New" keyword?

I forgot to add that a very similar issue can occur one level down - if you try to create a table named "New", the nav tree breaks with a fatal error in NavigationTree::addTableContainers(). I think some sort of decision of what is best - restrict user input or fix the node tree is needed for both of these issues. Restricting user input so that the "New" keyword cannot be used probably has the least potential of introducing new bugs into the code.

[williamdes]

A possible workaround would be to block users from creating databases named with the magic "New" keyword?

Well, we can not do that because they can create databases using their command line :)

I think we need to find the real cause of such a bug rather than limiting our users because of problems they do not care about ;)

[nina-py]

Well, we can not do that because they can create databases using their command line :)

Good point! There is no choice but to fix the node tree then :).