Exercise 1: Disabling an Unused Feature — Possible Solution ==================================================================== LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE isn't a bug in the traditional sense — it's a genuinely intentional, documented feature that does exactly what it's designed to do: let a client load data from a local file into a table. The risk isn't that it malfunctions; it's that having it ENABLED AT ALL creates a possible path (combined with certain other conditions, such as a malicious or compromised server tricking a client into reading an unexpected local file) that simply doesn't exist if the feature is off. If a specific application or workflow never actually uses this bulk- loading capability, leaving it enabled provides ZERO functional benefit while still carrying that risk. There is no upside to keeping it on "just in case" if nothing in the system ever calls on it. THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE THIS ILLUSTRATES: attack surface scales with what's ENABLED, not with what's actually USED. Every feature, plugin, or extension left switched on is a door that exists whether or not anyone ever walks through it on purpose — and every door that isn't needed for something real is a door worth closing, purely because an unused door adds risk with no corresponding benefit. This is the same "least privilege" reasoning from Chapter 3 (accounts should have only what they need), applied to the software's own feature set instead of to account grants.