Chapter 6 Security

Table of Contents

6.1 General Security Issues
6.1.1 Security Guidelines
6.1.2 Keeping Passwords Secure
6.1.3 Making MySQL Secure Against Attackers
6.1.4 Security-Related mysqld Options and Variables
6.1.5 How to Run MySQL as a Normal User
6.1.6 Security Issues with LOAD DATA LOCAL
6.1.7 Client Programming Security Guidelines
6.2 Access Control and Account Management
6.2.1 Account User Names and Passwords
6.2.2 Privileges Provided by MySQL
6.2.3 Grant Tables
6.2.4 Specifying Account Names
6.2.5 Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification
6.2.6 Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification
6.2.7 Adding Accounts, Assigning Privileges, and Dropping Accounts
6.2.8 Reserved Accounts
6.2.9 When Privilege Changes Take Effect
6.2.10 Assigning Account Passwords
6.2.11 Password Management
6.2.12 Server Handling of Expired Passwords
6.2.13 Pluggable Authentication
6.2.14 Proxy Users
6.2.15 Account Locking
6.2.16 Setting Account Resource Limits
6.2.17 Troubleshooting Problems Connecting to MySQL
6.2.18 SQL-Based Account Activity Auditing
6.3 Using Encrypted Connections
6.3.1 Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections
6.3.2 Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers
6.3.3 Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys
6.3.4 SSL Library-Dependent Capabilities
6.3.5 Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH
6.4 Security Plugins
6.4.1 Authentication Plugins
6.4.2 The Connection-Control Plugins
6.4.3 The Password Validation Plugin
6.4.4 The MySQL Keyring
6.4.5 MySQL Enterprise Audit
6.4.6 MySQL Enterprise Firewall
6.4.7 MySQL Enterprise Data Masking and De-Identification

When thinking about security within a MySQL installation, you should consider a wide range of possible topics and how they affect the security of your MySQL server and related applications:

6.1 General Security Issues

This section describes general security issues to be aware of and what you can do to make your MySQL installation more secure against attack or misuse. For information specifically about the access control system that MySQL uses for setting up user accounts and checking database access, see Section 2.10, “Postinstallation Setup and Testing”.

For answers to some questions that are often asked about MySQL Server security issues, see Section A.9, “MySQL 5.7 FAQ: Security”.

6.1.1 Security Guidelines

Anyone using MySQL on a computer connected to the Internet should read this section to avoid the most common security mistakes.

In discussing security, it is necessary to consider fully protecting the entire server host (not just the MySQL server) against all types of applicable attacks: eavesdropping, altering, playback, and denial of service. We do not cover all aspects of availability and fault tolerance here.

MySQL uses security based on Access Control Lists (ACLs) for all connections, queries, and other operations that users can attempt to perform. There is also support for SSL-encrypted connections between MySQL clients and servers. Many of the concepts discussed here are not specific to MySQL at all; the same general ideas apply to almost all applications.

When running MySQL, follow these guidelines:

  • Do not ever give anyone (except MySQL root accounts) access to the user table in the mysql system database! This is critical.

  • Learn how the MySQL access privilege system works (see Section 6.2, “Access Control and Account Management”). Use the GRANT and REVOKE statements to control access to MySQL. Do not grant more privileges than necessary. Never grant privileges to all hosts.

    Checklist:

    • Try mysql -u root. If you are able to connect successfully to the server without being asked for a password, anyone can connect to your MySQL server as the MySQL root user with full privileges! Review the MySQL installation instructions, paying particular attention to the information about setting a root password. See Section 2.10.4, “Securing the Initial MySQL Account”.

    • Use the SHOW GRANTS statement to check which accounts have access to what. Then use the REVOKE statement to remove those privileges that are not necessary.

  • Do not store cleartext passwords in your database. If your computer becomes compromised, the intruder can take the full list of passwords and use them. Instead, use SHA2() or some other one-way hashing function and store the hash value.

    To prevent password recovery using rainbow tables, do not use these functions on a plain password; instead, choose some string to be used as a salt, and use hash(hash(password)+salt) values.

  • Do not choose passwords from dictionaries. Special programs exist to break passwords. Even passwords like xfish98 are very bad. Much better is duag98 which contains the same word fish but typed one key to the left on a standard QWERTY keyboard. Another method is to use a password that is taken from the first characters of each word in a sentence (for example, Four score and seven years ago results in a password of Fsasya). The password is easy to remember and type, but difficult to guess for someone who does not know the sentence. In this case, you can additionally substitute digits for the number words to obtain the phrase 4 score and 7 years ago, yielding the password 4sa7ya which is even more difficult to guess.

  • Invest in a firewall. This protects you from at least 50% of all types of exploits in any software. Put MySQL behind the firewall or in a demilitarized zone (DMZ).

    Checklist:

    • Try to scan your ports from the Internet using a tool such as nmap. MySQL uses port 3306 by default. This port should not be accessible from untrusted hosts. As a simple way to check whether your MySQL port is open, try the following command from some remote machine, where server_host is the host name or IP address of the host on which your MySQL server runs:

      shell> telnet server_host 3306
      

      If telnet hangs or the connection is refused, the port is blocked, which is how you want it to be. If you get a connection and some garbage characters, the port is open, and should be closed on your firewall or router, unless you really have a good reason to keep it open.

  • Applications that access MySQL should not trust any data entered by users, and should be written using proper defensive programming techniques. See Section 6.1.7, “Client Programming Security Guidelines”.

  • Do not transmit plain (unencrypted) data over the Internet. This information is accessible to everyone who has the time and ability to intercept it and use it for their own purposes. Instead, use an encrypted protocol such as SSL or SSH. MySQL supports internal SSL connections. Another technique is to use SSH port-forwarding to create an encrypted (and compressed) tunnel for the communication.

  • Learn to use the tcpdump and strings utilities. In most cases, you can check whether MySQL data streams are unencrypted by issuing a command like the following:

    shell> tcpdump -l -i eth0 -w - src or dst port 3306 | strings
    

    This works under Linux and should work with small modifications under other systems.

    Warning

    If you do not see cleartext data, this does not always mean that the information actually is encrypted. If you need high security, consult with a security expert.

6.1.2 Keeping Passwords Secure

Passwords occur in several contexts within MySQL. The following sections provide guidelines that enable end users and administrators to keep these passwords secure and avoid exposing them. There is also a discussion of how MySQL uses password hashing internally and of a plugin that you can use to enforce stricter passwords.

6.1.2.1 End-User Guidelines for Password Security

MySQL users should use the following guidelines to keep passwords secure.

When you run a client program to connect to the MySQL server, it is inadvisable to specify your password in a way that exposes it to discovery by other users. The methods you can use to specify your password when you run client programs are listed here, along with an assessment of the risks of each method. In short, the safest methods are to have the client program prompt for the password or to specify the password in a properly protected option file.

  • Use the mysql_config_editor utility, which enables you to store authentication credentials in an encrypted login path file named .mylogin.cnf. The file can be read later by MySQL client programs to obtain authentication credentials for connecting to MySQL Server. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

  • Use a --password=password or -ppassword option on the command line. For example:

    shell> mysql -u francis -pfrank db_name
    
    Warning

    This is convenient but insecure. On some systems, your password becomes visible to system status programs such as ps that may be invoked by other users to display command lines. MySQL clients typically overwrite the command-line password argument with zeros during their initialization sequence. However, there is still a brief interval during which the value is visible. Also, on some systems this overwriting strategy is ineffective and the password remains visible to ps. (SystemV Unix systems and perhaps others are subject to this problem.)

    If your operating environment is set up to display your current command in the title bar of your terminal window, the password remains visible as long as the command is running, even if the command has scrolled out of view in the window content area.

  • Use the --password or -p option on the command line with no password value specified. In this case, the client program solicits the password interactively:

    shell> mysql -u francis -p db_name
    Enter password: ********
    

    The * characters indicate where you enter your password. The password is not displayed as you enter it.

    It is more secure to enter your password this way than to specify it on the command line because it is not visible to other users. However, this method of entering a password is suitable only for programs that you run interactively. If you want to invoke a client from a script that runs noninteractively, there is no opportunity to enter the password from the keyboard. On some systems, you may even find that the first line of your script is read and interpreted (incorrectly) as your password.

  • Store your password in an option file. For example, on Unix, you can list your password in the [client] section of the .my.cnf file in your home directory:

    [client]
    password=password
    

    To keep the password safe, the file should not be accessible to anyone but yourself. To ensure this, set the file access mode to 400 or 600. For example:

    shell> chmod 600 .my.cnf
    

    To name from the command line a specific option file containing the password, use the --defaults-file=file_name option, where file_name is the full path name to the file. For example:

    shell> mysql --defaults-file=/home/francis/mysql-opts
    

    Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”, discusses option files in more detail.

  • Store your password in the MYSQL_PWD environment variable. See Section 4.9, “Environment Variables”.

    This method of specifying your MySQL password must be considered extremely insecure and should not be used. Some versions of ps include an option to display the environment of running processes. On some systems, if you set MYSQL_PWD, your password is exposed to any other user who runs ps. Even on systems without such a version of ps, it is unwise to assume that there are no other methods by which users can examine process environments.

On Unix, the mysql client writes a record of executed statements to a history file (see Section 4.5.1.3, “mysql Client Logging”). By default, this file is named .mysql_history and is created in your home directory. Passwords can be written as plain text in SQL statements such as CREATE USER and ALTER USER, so if you use these statements, they are logged in the history file. To keep this file safe, use a restrictive access mode, the same way as described earlier for the .my.cnf file.

If your command interpreter is configured to maintain a history, any file in which the commands are saved will contain MySQL passwords entered on the command line. For example, bash uses ~/.bash_history. Any such file should have a restrictive access mode.

6.1.2.2 Administrator Guidelines for Password Security

Database administrators should use the following guidelines to keep passwords secure.

MySQL stores passwords for user accounts in the mysql.user system table. Access to this table should never be granted to any nonadministrative accounts.

Account passwords can be expired so that users must reset them. See Section 6.2.11, “Password Management”, and Section 6.2.12, “Server Handling of Expired Passwords”.

The validate_password plugin can be used to enforce a policy on acceptable password. See Section 6.4.3, “The Password Validation Plugin”.

A user who has access to modify the plugin directory (the value of the plugin_dir system variable) or the my.cnf file that specifies the plugin directory location can replace plugins and modify the capabilities provided by plugins, including authentication plugins.

Files such as log files to which passwords might be written should be protected. See Section 6.1.2.3, “Passwords and Logging”.

6.1.2.3 Passwords and Logging

Passwords can be written as plain text in SQL statements such as CREATE USER, GRANT, SET PASSWORD, and statements that invoke the PASSWORD() function. If such statements are logged by the MySQL server as written, passwords in them become visible to anyone with access to the logs.

Statement logging avoids writing passwords as cleartext for the following statements:

CREATE USER ... IDENTIFIED BY ...
ALTER USER ... IDENTIFIED BY ...
GRANT ... IDENTIFIED BY ...
SET PASSWORD ...
SLAVE START ... PASSWORD = ...
CREATE SERVER ... OPTIONS(... PASSWORD ...)
ALTER SERVER ... OPTIONS(... PASSWORD ...)

Passwords in those statements are rewritten to not appear literally in statement text written to the general query log, slow query log, and binary log. Rewriting does not apply to other statements. In particular, INSERT or UPDATE statements for the mysql.user system table that refer to literal passwords are logged as is, so you should avoid such statements. (Direct modification of grant tables is discouraged, anyway.)

For the general query log, password rewriting can be suppressed by starting the server with the --log-raw option. For security reasons, this option is not recommended for production use. For diagnostic purposes, it may be useful to see the exact text of statements as received by the server.

Contents of the audit log file produced by the audit log plugin are not encrypted. For security reasons, this file should be written to a directory accessible only to the MySQL server and users with a legitimate reason to view the log. See Section 6.4.5.3, “MySQL Enterprise Audit Security Considerations”.

Statements received by the server may be rewritten if a query rewrite plugin is installed (see Query Rewrite Plugins). In this case, the --log-raw option affects statement logging as follows:

  • Without --log-raw, the server logs the statement returned by the query rewrite plugin. This may differ from the statement as received.

  • With --log-raw, the server logs the original statement as received.

An implication of password rewriting is that statements that cannot be parsed (due, for example, to syntax errors) are not written to the general query log because they cannot be known to be password free. Use cases that require logging of all statements including those with errors should use the --log-raw option, bearing in mind that this also bypasses password rewriting.

Password rewriting occurs only when plain text passwords are expected. For statements with syntax that expect a password hash value, no rewriting occurs. If a plain text password is supplied erroneously for such syntax, the password is logged as given, without rewriting. For example, the following statement is logged as shown because a password hash value is expected:

CREATE USER 'user1'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY PASSWORD 'not-so-secret';

To guard log files against unwarranted exposure, locate them in a directory that restricts access to the server and the database administrator. If the server logs to tables in the mysql database, grant access to those tables only to the database administrator.

Replication slaves store the password for the replication master in the master info repository, which can be either a file or a table (see Section 16.2.4, “Replication Relay and Status Logs”). Ensure that the repository can be accessed only by the database administrator. An alternative to storing the password in a file is to use the START SLAVE statement to specify credentials for connecting to the master.

Use a restricted access mode to protect database backups that include log tables or log files containing passwords.

6.1.2.4 Password Hashing in MySQL

Note

The information in this section applies fully only before MySQL 5.7.5, and only for accounts that use the mysql_native_password or mysql_old_password authentication plugins. Support for pre-4.1 password hashes was removed in MySQL 5.7.5. This includes removal of the mysql_old_password authentication plugin and the OLD_PASSWORD() function. Also, secure_auth cannot be disabled, and old_passwords cannot be set to 1.

As of MySQL 5.7.5, only the information about 4.1 password hashes and the mysql_native_password authentication plugin remains relevant.

MySQL lists user accounts in the user table of the mysql database. Each MySQL account can be assigned a password, although the user table does not store the cleartext version of the password, but a hash value computed from it.

MySQL uses passwords in two phases of client/server communication:

  • When a client attempts to connect to the server, there is an initial authentication step in which the client must present a password that has a hash value matching the hash value stored in the user table for the account the client wants to use.

  • After the client connects, it can (if it has sufficient privileges) set or change the password hash for accounts listed in the user table. The client can do this by using the PASSWORD() function to generate a password hash, or by using a password-generating statement (CREATE USER, GRANT, or SET PASSWORD).

In other words, the server checks hash values during authentication when a client first attempts to connect. The server generates hash values if a connected client invokes the PASSWORD() function or uses a password-generating statement to set or change a password.

Password hashing methods in MySQL have the history described following. These changes are illustrated by changes in the result from the PASSWORD() function that computes password hash values and in the structure of the user table where passwords are stored.

The Original (Pre-4.1) Hashing Method

The original hashing method produced a 16-byte string. Such hashes look like this:

mysql> SELECT PASSWORD('mypass');
+--------------------+
| PASSWORD('mypass') |
+--------------------+
| 6f8c114b58f2ce9e   |
+--------------------+

To store account passwords, the Password column of the user table was at this point 16 bytes long.

The 4.1 Hashing Method

MySQL 4.1 introduced password hashing that provided better security and reduced the risk of passwords being intercepted. There were several aspects to this change:

  • Different format of password values produced by the PASSWORD() function

  • Widening of the Password column

  • Control over the default hashing method

  • Control over the permitted hashing methods for clients attempting to connect to the server

The changes in MySQL 4.1 took place in two stages:

  • MySQL 4.1.0 used a preliminary version of the 4.1 hashing method. This method was short lived and the following discussion says nothing more about it.

  • In MySQL 4.1.1, the hashing method was modified to produce a longer 41-byte hash value:

    mysql> SELECT PASSWORD('mypass');
    +-------------------------------------------+
    | PASSWORD('mypass')                        |
    +-------------------------------------------+
    | *6C8989366EAF75BB670AD8EA7A7FC1176A95CEF4 |
    +-------------------------------------------+
    

    The longer password hash format has better cryptographic properties, and client authentication based on long hashes is more secure than that based on the older short hashes.

    To accommodate longer password hashes, the Password column in the user table was changed at this point to be 41 bytes, its current length.

    A widened Password column can store password hashes in both the pre-4.1 and 4.1 formats. The format of any given hash value can be determined two ways:

    • The length: 4.1 and pre-4.1 hashes are 41 and 16 bytes, respectively.

    • Password hashes in the 4.1 format always begin with a * character, whereas passwords in the pre-4.1 format never do.

    To permit explicit generation of pre-4.1 password hashes, two additional changes were made:

    • The OLD_PASSWORD() function was added, which returns hash values in the 16-byte format.

    • For compatibility purposes, the old_passwords system variable was added, to enable DBAs and applications control over the hashing method. The default old_passwords value of 0 causes hashing to use the 4.1 method (41-byte hash values), but setting old_passwords=1 causes hashing to use the pre-4.1 method. In this case, PASSWORD() produces 16-byte values and is equivalent to OLD_PASSWORD()

    To permit DBAs control over how clients are permitted to connect, the secure_auth system variable was added. Starting the server with this variable disabled or enabled permits or prohibits clients to connect using the older pre-4.1 password hashing method. Before MySQL 5.6.5, secure_auth is disabled by default. As of 5.6.5, secure_auth is enabled by default to promote a more secure default configuration DBAs can disable it at their discretion, but this is not recommended, and pre-4.1 password hashes are deprecated and should be avoided. (For account upgrade instructions, see Section 6.4.1.3, “Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin”.)

    In addition, the mysql client supports a --secure-auth option that is analogous to secure_auth, but from the client side. It can be used to prevent connections to less secure accounts that use pre-4.1 password hashing. This option is disabled by default before MySQL 5.6.7, enabled thereafter.

Compatibility Issues Related to Hashing Methods

The widening of the Password column in MySQL 4.1 from 16 bytes to 41 bytes affects installation or upgrade operations as follows:

  • If you perform a new installation of MySQL, the Password column is made 41 bytes long automatically.

  • Upgrades from MySQL 4.1 or later to current versions of MySQL should not give rise to any issues in regard to the Password column because both versions use the same column length and password hashing method.

  • For upgrades from a pre-4.1 release to 4.1 or later, you must upgrade the system tables after upgrading. (See Section 4.4.7, “mysql_upgrade — Check and Upgrade MySQL Tables”.)

The 4.1 hashing method is understood only by MySQL 4.1 (and higher) servers and clients, which can result in some compatibility problems. A 4.1 or higher client can connect to a pre-4.1 server, because the client understands both the pre-4.1 and 4.1 password hashing methods. However, a pre-4.1 client that attempts to connect to a 4.1 or higher server may run into difficulties. For example, a 4.0 mysql client may fail with the following error message:

shell> mysql -h localhost -u root
Client does not support authentication protocol requested
by server; consider upgrading MySQL client

This phenomenon also occurs for attempts to use the older PHP mysql extension after upgrading to MySQL 4.1 or higher. (See Common Problems with MySQL and PHP.)

The following discussion describes the differences between the pre-4.1 and 4.1 hashing methods, and what you should do if you upgrade your server but need to maintain backward compatibility with pre-4.1 clients. (However, permitting connections by old clients is not recommended and should be avoided if possible.) This information is of particular importance to PHP programmers migrating MySQL databases from versions older than 4.1 to 4.1 or higher.

The differences between short and long password hashes are relevant both for how the server uses passwords during authentication and for how it generates password hashes for connected clients that perform password-changing operations.

The way in which the server uses password hashes during authentication is affected by the width of the Password column:

  • If the column is short, only short-hash authentication is used.

  • If the column is long, it can hold either short or long hashes, and the server can use either format:

    • Pre-4.1 clients can connect, but because they know only about the pre-4.1 hashing method, they can authenticate only using accounts that have short hashes.

    • 4.1 and later clients can authenticate using accounts that have short or long hashes.

Even for short-hash accounts, the authentication process is actually a bit more secure for 4.1 and later clients than for older clients. In terms of security, the gradient from least to most secure is:

  • Pre-4.1 client authenticating with short password hash

  • 4.1 or later client authenticating with short password hash

  • 4.1 or later client authenticating with long password hash

The way in which the server generates password hashes for connected clients is affected by the width of the Password column and by the old_passwords system variable. A 4.1 or later server generates long hashes only if certain conditions are met: The Password column must be wide enough to hold long values and old_passwords must not be set to 1.

Those conditions apply as follows:

  • The Password column must be wide enough to hold long hashes (41 bytes). If the column has not been updated and still has the pre-4.1 width of 16 bytes, the server notices that long hashes cannot fit into it and generates only short hashes when a client performs password-changing operations using the PASSWORD() function or a password-generating statement. This is the behavior that occurs if you have upgraded from a version of MySQL older than 4.1 to 4.1 or later but have not yet run the mysql_upgrade program to widen the Password column.

  • If the Password column is wide, it can store either short or long password hashes. In this case, the PASSWORD() function and password-generating statements generate long hashes unless the server was started with the old_passwords system variable set to 1 to force the server to generate short password hashes instead.

The purpose of the old_passwords system variable is to permit backward compatibility with pre-4.1 clients under circumstances where the server would otherwise generate long password hashes. The option does not affect authentication (4.1 and later clients can still use accounts that have long password hashes), but it does prevent creation of a long password hash in the user table as the result of a password-changing operation. Were that permitted to occur, the account could no longer be used by pre-4.1 clients. With old_passwords disabled, the following undesirable scenario is possible:

  • An old pre-4.1 client connects to an account that has a short password hash.

  • The client changes its own password. With old_passwords disabled, this results in the account having a long password hash.

  • The next time the old client attempts to connect to the account, it cannot, because the account has a long password hash that requires the 4.1 hashing method during authentication. (Once an account has a long password hash in the user table, only 4.1 and later clients can authenticate for it because pre-4.1 clients do not understand long hashes.)

This scenario illustrates that, if you must support older pre-4.1 clients, it is problematic to run a 4.1 or higher server without old_passwords set to 1. By running the server with old_passwords=1, password-changing operations do not generate long password hashes and thus do not cause accounts to become inaccessible to older clients. (Those clients cannot inadvertently lock themselves out by changing their password and ending up with a long password hash.)

The downside of old_passwords=1 is that any passwords created or changed use short hashes, even for 4.1 or later clients. Thus, you lose the additional security provided by long password hashes. To create an account that has a long hash (for example, for use by 4.1 clients) or to change an existing account to use a long password hash, an administrator can set the session value of old_passwords set to 0 while leaving the global value set to 1:

mysql> SET @@SESSION.old_passwords = 0;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT @@SESSION.old_passwords, @@GLOBAL.old_passwords;
+-------------------------+------------------------+
| @@SESSION.old_passwords | @@GLOBAL.old_passwords |
+-------------------------+------------------------+
|                       0 |                      1 |
+-------------------------+------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> CREATE USER 'newuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'newpass';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.03 sec)

mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'existinguser'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('existingpass');
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

The following scenarios are possible in MySQL 4.1 or later. The factors are whether the Password column is short or long, and, if long, whether the server is started with old_passwords enabled or disabled.

Scenario 1: Short Password column in user table:

  • Only short hashes can be stored in the Password column.

  • The server uses only short hashes during client authentication.

  • For connected clients, password hash-generating operations involving the PASSWORD() function or password-generating statements use short hashes exclusively. Any change to an account's password results in that account having a short password hash.

  • The value of old_passwords is irrelevant because with a short Password column, the server generates only short password hashes anyway.

This scenario occurs when a pre-4.1 MySQL installation has been upgraded to 4.1 or later but mysql_upgrade has not been run to upgrade the system tables in the mysql database. (This is not a recommended configuration because it does not permit use of more secure 4.1 password hashing.)

Scenario 2: Long Password column; server started with old_passwords=1:

  • Short or long hashes can be stored in the Password column.

  • 4.1 and later clients can authenticate for accounts that have short or long hashes.

  • Pre-4.1 clients can authenticate only for accounts that have short hashes.

  • For connected clients, password hash-generating operations involving the PASSWORD() function or password-generating statements use short hashes exclusively. Any change to an account's password results in that account having a short password hash.

In this scenario, newly created accounts have short password hashes because old_passwords=1 prevents generation of long hashes. Also, if you create an account with a long hash before setting old_passwords to 1, changing the account's password while old_passwords=1 results in the account being given a short password, causing it to lose the security benefits of a longer hash.

To create a new account that has a long password hash, or to change the password of any existing account to use a long hash, first set the session value of old_passwords set to 0 while leaving the global value set to 1, as described previously.

In this scenario, the server has an up to date Password column, but is running with the default password hashing method set to generate pre-4.1 hash values. This is not a recommended configuration but may be useful during a transitional period in which pre-4.1 clients and passwords are upgraded to 4.1 or later. When that has been done, it is preferable to run the server with old_passwords=0 and secure_auth=1.

Scenario 3: Long Password column; server started with old_passwords=0:

  • Short or long hashes can be stored in the Password column.

  • 4.1 and later clients can authenticate using accounts that have short or long hashes.

  • Pre-4.1 clients can authenticate only using accounts that have short hashes.

  • For connected clients, password hash-generating operations involving the PASSWORD() function or password-generating statements use long hashes exclusively. A change to an account's password results in that account having a long password hash.

As indicated earlier, a danger in this scenario is that it is possible for accounts that have a short password hash to become inaccessible to pre-4.1 clients. A change to such an account's password made using the PASSWORD() function or a password-generating statement results in the account being given a long password hash. From that point on, no pre-4.1 client can connect to the server using that account. The client must upgrade to 4.1 or later.

If this is a problem, you can change a password in a special way. For example, normally you use SET PASSWORD as follows to change an account password:

SET PASSWORD FOR 'some_user'@'some_host' = PASSWORD('password');

To change the password but create a short hash, use the OLD_PASSWORD() function instead:

SET PASSWORD FOR 'some_user'@'some_host' = OLD_PASSWORD('password');

OLD_PASSWORD() is useful for situations in which you explicitly want to generate a short hash.

The disadvantages for each of the preceding scenarios may be summarized as follows:

In scenario 1, you cannot take advantage of longer hashes that provide more secure authentication.

In scenario 2, old_passwords=1 prevents accounts with short hashes from becoming inaccessible, but password-changing operations cause accounts with long hashes to revert to short hashes unless you take care to change the session value of old_passwords to 0 first.

In scenario 3, accounts with short hashes become inaccessible to pre-4.1 clients if you change their passwords without explicitly using OLD_PASSWORD().

The best way to avoid compatibility problems related to short password hashes is to not use them:

  • Upgrade all client programs to MySQL 4.1 or later.

  • Run the server with old_passwords=0.

  • Reset the password for any account with a short password hash to use a long password hash.

  • For additional security, run the server with secure_auth=1.

6.1.3 Making MySQL Secure Against Attackers

When you connect to a MySQL server, you should use a password. The password is not transmitted as cleartext over the connection. Password handling during the client connection sequence was upgraded in MySQL 4.1.1 to be very secure. If you are still using pre-4.1.1-style passwords, the encryption algorithm is not as strong as the newer algorithm. With some effort, a clever attacker who can sniff the traffic between the client and the server can crack the password. (See Section 6.1.2.4, “Password Hashing in MySQL”, for a discussion of the different password handling methods.)

All other information is transferred as text, and can be read by anyone who is able to watch the connection. If the connection between the client and the server goes through an untrusted network, and you are concerned about this, you can use the compressed protocol to make traffic much more difficult to decipher. You can also use MySQL's internal SSL support to make the connection even more secure. See Section 6.3, “Using Encrypted Connections”. Alternatively, use SSH to get an encrypted TCP/IP connection between a MySQL server and a MySQL client. You can find an Open Source SSH client at http://www.openssh.org/, and a comparison of both Open Source and Commercial SSH clients at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_SSH_clients.

To make a MySQL system secure, you should strongly consider the following suggestions:

  • Require all MySQL accounts to have a password. A client program does not necessarily know the identity of the person running it. It is common for client/server applications that the user can specify any user name to the client program. For example, anyone can use the mysql program to connect as any other person simply by invoking it as mysql -u other_user db_name if other_user has no password. If all accounts have a password, connecting using another user's account becomes much more difficult.

    For a discussion of methods for setting passwords, see Section 6.2.10, “Assigning Account Passwords”.

  • Make sure that the only Unix user account with read or write privileges in the database directories is the account that is used for running mysqld.

  • Never run the MySQL server as the Unix root user. This is extremely dangerous, because any user with the FILE privilege is able to cause the server to create files as root (for example, ~root/.bashrc). To prevent this, mysqld refuses to run as root unless that is specified explicitly using the --user=root option.

    mysqld can (and should) be run as an ordinary, unprivileged user instead. You can create a separate Unix account named mysql to make everything even more secure. Use this account only for administering MySQL. To start mysqld as a different Unix user, add a user option that specifies the user name in the [mysqld] group of the my.cnf option file where you specify server options. For example:

    [mysqld]
    user=mysql

    This causes the server to start as the designated user whether you start it manually or by using mysqld_safe or mysql.server. For more details, see Section 6.1.5, “How to Run MySQL as a Normal User”.

    Running mysqld as a Unix user other than root does not mean that you need to change the root user name in the user table. User names for MySQL accounts have nothing to do with user names for Unix accounts.

  • Do not grant the FILE privilege to nonadministrative users. Any user that has this privilege can write a file anywhere in the file system with the privileges of the mysqld daemon. This includes the server's data directory containing the files that implement the privilege tables. To make FILE-privilege operations a bit safer, files generated with SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE do not overwrite existing files and are writable by everyone.

    The FILE privilege may also be used to read any file that is world-readable or accessible to the Unix user that the server runs as. With this privilege, you can read any file into a database table. This could be abused, for example, by using LOAD DATA to load /etc/passwd into a table, which then can be displayed with SELECT.

    To limit the location in which files can be read and written, set the secure_file_priv system to a specific directory. See Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”.

  • Do not grant the PROCESS or SUPER privilege to nonadministrative users. The output of mysqladmin processlist and SHOW PROCESSLIST shows the text of any statements currently being executed, so any user who is permitted to see the server process list might be able to see statements issued by other users such as UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD('not_secure').

    mysqld reserves an extra connection for users who have the SUPER privilege, so that a MySQL root user can log in and check server activity even if all normal connections are in use.

    The SUPER privilege can be used to terminate client connections, change server operation by changing the value of system variables, and control replication servers.

  • Do not permit the use of symlinks to tables. (This capability can be disabled with the --skip-symbolic-links option.) This is especially important if you run mysqld as root, because anyone that has write access to the server's data directory then could delete any file in the system! See Section 8.12.3.2, “Using Symbolic Links for MyISAM Tables on Unix”.

  • Stored programs and views should be written using the security guidelines discussed in Section 23.6, “Stored Object Access Control”.

  • If you do not trust your DNS, you should use IP addresses rather than host names in the grant tables. In any case, you should be very careful about creating grant table entries using host name values that contain wildcards.

  • If you want to restrict the number of connections permitted to a single account, you can do so by setting the max_user_connections variable in mysqld. The CREATE USER and ALTER USER statements also support resource control options for limiting the extent of server use permitted to an account. See Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”, and Section 13.7.1.1, “ALTER USER Statement”.

  • If the plugin directory is writable by the server, it may be possible for a user to write executable code to a file in the directory using SELECT ... INTO DUMPFILE. This can be prevented by making plugin_dir read only to the server or by setting secure_file_priv to a directory where SELECT writes can be made safely.

6.1.4 Security-Related mysqld Options and Variables

The following table shows mysqld options and system variables that affect security. For descriptions of each of these, see Section 5.1.6, “Server Command Options”, and Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”.

Table 6.1 Security Option and Variable Summary

Name Cmd-Line Option File System Var Status Var Var Scope Dynamic
allow-suspicious-udfs Yes Yes
automatic_sp_privileges Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
chroot Yes Yes
des-key-file Yes Yes
local_infile Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
old_passwords Yes Yes Yes Both Yes
safe-user-create Yes Yes
secure_auth Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
secure_file_priv Yes Yes Yes Global No
skip-grant-tables Yes Yes
skip_name_resolve Yes Yes Yes Global No
skip_networking Yes Yes Yes Global No
skip_show_database Yes Yes Yes Global No

6.1.5 How to Run MySQL as a Normal User

On Windows, you can run the server as a Windows service using a normal user account.

On Linux, for installations performed using a MySQL repository, RPM packages, or Debian packages, the MySQL server mysqld should be started by the local mysql operating system user. Starting by another operating system user is not supported by the init scripts that are included as part of the installation.

On Unix (or Linux for installations performed using tar or tar.gz packages) , the MySQL server mysqld can be started and run by any user. However, you should avoid running the server as the Unix root user for security reasons. To change mysqld to run as a normal unprivileged Unix user user_name, you must do the following:

  1. Stop the server if it is running (use mysqladmin shutdown).

  2. Change the database directories and files so that user_name has privileges to read and write files in them (you might need to do this as the Unix root user):

    shell> chown -R user_name /path/to/mysql/datadir
    

    If you do not do this, the server will not be able to access databases or tables when it runs as user_name.

    If directories or files within the MySQL data directory are symbolic links, chown -R might not follow symbolic links for you. If it does not, you will also need to follow those links and change the directories and files they point to.

  3. Start the server as user user_name. Another alternative is to start mysqld as the Unix root user and use the --user=user_name option. mysqld starts, then switches to run as the Unix user user_name before accepting any connections.

  4. To start the server as the given user automatically at system startup time, specify the user name by adding a user option to the [mysqld] group of the /etc/my.cnf option file or the my.cnf option file in the server's data directory. For example:

    [mysqld]
    user=user_name
    

If your Unix machine itself is not secured, you should assign passwords to the MySQL root account in the grant tables. Otherwise, any user with a login account on that machine can run the mysql client with a --user=root option and perform any operation. (It is a good idea to assign passwords to MySQL accounts in any case, but especially so when other login accounts exist on the server host.) See Section 2.10.4, “Securing the Initial MySQL Account”.

6.1.6 Security Issues with LOAD DATA LOCAL

The LOAD DATA statement can load a file located on the server host, or, if the LOCAL keyword is specified, on the client host.

There are two potential security issues with the LOCAL version of LOAD DATA:

  • The transfer of the file from the client host to the server host is initiated by the MySQL server. In theory, a patched server could be built that would tell the client program to transfer a file of the server's choosing rather than the file named by the client in the LOAD DATA statement. Such a server could access any file on the client host to which the client user has read access. (A patched server could in fact reply with a file-transfer request to any statement, not just LOAD DATA LOCAL, so a more fundamental issue is that clients should not connect to untrusted servers.)

  • In a Web environment where the clients are connecting from a Web server, a user could use LOAD DATA LOCAL to read any files that the Web server process has read access to (assuming that a user could run any statement against the SQL server). In this environment, the client with respect to the MySQL server actually is the Web server, not a remote program being run by users who connect to the Web server.

To avoid LOAD DATA issues, clients should avoid using LOCAL. To avoid connecting to untrusted servers, clients can establish a secure connection and verify the server identity by connecting using the --ssl-mode=VERIFY_IDENTITY option and the appropriate CA certificate.

To enable adminstrators and applications to manage the local data loading capability, LOCAL configuration works like this:

  • On the server side:

    • The local_infile system variable controls server-side LOCAL capability. Depending on the local_infile setting, the server refuses or permits local data loading by clients that have LOCAL enabled on the client side. By default, local_infile is enabled.

    • To explicitly cause the server to refuse or permit LOAD DATA LOCAL statements (regardless of how client programs and libraries are configured at build time or runtime), start mysqld with local_infile disabled or enabled, respectively. local_infile can also be set at runtime.

  • On the client side:

    • The ENABLED_LOCAL_INFILE CMake option controls the compiled-in default LOCAL capability for the MySQL client library. Clients that make no explicit arrangements therefore have LOCAL capability disabled or enabled according to the ENABLED_LOCAL_INFILE setting specified at MySQL build time.

      By default, the client library in MySQL binary distributions is compiled with ENABLED_LOCAL_INFILE enabled. If you compile MySQL from source, configure it with ENABLED_LOCAL_INFILE disabled or enabled based on whether clients that make no explicit arrangements should have LOCAL capability disabled or enabled, respectively.

    • Client programs that use the C API can control load data loading explicitly by invoking mysql_options() to disable or enable the MYSQL_OPT_LOCAL_INFILE option. See Section 27.7.6.50, “mysql_options()”.

    • For the mysql client, local data loading is disabled by default. To disable or enable it explicitly, use the --local-infile=0 or --local-infile[=1] option.

    • For the mysqlimport client, local data loading is disabled by default. To disable or enable it explicitly, use the --local=0 or --local[=1] option.

    • If you use LOAD DATA LOCAL in Perl scripts or other programs that read the [client] group from option files, you can add an local-infile option setting to that group. To prevent problems for programs that do not understand this option, specify it using the loose- prefix:

      [client]
      loose-local-infile=0

      or:

      [client]
      loose-local-infile=1
    • In all cases, successful use of a LOCAL load operation by a client also requires that the server permits it.

If LOCAL capability is disabled, on either the server or client side, a client that attempts to issue a LOAD DATA LOCAL statement receives the following error message:

ERROR 1148: The used command is not allowed with this MySQL version

6.1.7 Client Programming Security Guidelines

Applications that access MySQL should not trust any data entered by users, who can try to trick your code by entering special or escaped character sequences in Web forms, URLs, or whatever application you have built. Be sure that your application remains secure if a user enters something like ; DROP DATABASE mysql;. This is an extreme example, but large security leaks and data loss might occur as a result of hackers using similar techniques, if you do not prepare for them.

A common mistake is to protect only string data values. Remember to check numeric data as well. If an application generates a query such as SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID=234 when a user enters the value 234, the user can enter the value 234 OR 1=1 to cause the application to generate the query SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID=234 OR 1=1. As a result, the server retrieves every row in the table. This exposes every row and causes excessive server load. The simplest way to protect from this type of attack is to use single quotation marks around the numeric constants: SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID='234'. If the user enters extra information, it all becomes part of the string. In a numeric context, MySQL automatically converts this string to a number and strips any trailing nonnumeric characters from it.

Sometimes people think that if a database contains only publicly available data, it need not be protected. This is incorrect. Even if it is permissible to display any row in the database, you should still protect against denial of service attacks (for example, those that are based on the technique in the preceding paragraph that causes the server to waste resources). Otherwise, your server becomes unresponsive to legitimate users.

Checklist:

  • Enable strict SQL mode to tell the server to be more restrictive of what data values it accepts. See Section 5.1.10, “Server SQL Modes”.

  • Try to enter single and double quotation marks (' and ") in all of your Web forms. If you get any kind of MySQL error, investigate the problem right away.

  • Try to modify dynamic URLs by adding %22 ("), %23 (#), and %27 (') to them.

  • Try to modify data types in dynamic URLs from numeric to character types using the characters shown in the previous examples. Your application should be safe against these and similar attacks.

  • Try to enter characters, spaces, and special symbols rather than numbers in numeric fields. Your application should remove them before passing them to MySQL or else generate an error. Passing unchecked values to MySQL is very dangerous!

  • Check the size of data before passing it to MySQL.

  • Have your application connect to the database using a user name different from the one you use for administrative purposes. Do not give your applications any access privileges they do not need.

Many application programming interfaces provide a means of escaping special characters in data values. Properly used, this prevents application users from entering values that cause the application to generate statements that have a different effect than you intend:

  • MySQL C API: Use the mysql_real_escape_string_quote() API call.

  • MySQL++: Use the escape and quote modifiers for query streams.

  • PHP: Use either the mysqli or pdo_mysql extensions, and not the older ext/mysql extension. The preferred API's support the improved MySQL authentication protocol and passwords, as well as prepared statements with placeholders. See also Choosing an API.

    If the older ext/mysql extension must be used, then for escaping use the mysql_real_escape_string_quote() function and not mysql_escape_string() or addslashes() because only mysql_real_escape_string_quote() is character set-aware; the other functions can be bypassed when using (invalid) multibyte character sets.

  • Perl DBI: Use placeholders or the quote() method.

  • Ruby DBI: Use placeholders or the quote() method.

  • Java JDBC: Use a PreparedStatement object and placeholders.

Other programming interfaces might have similar capabilities.

6.2 Access Control and Account Management

MySQL enables the creation of accounts that permit client users to connect to the server and access data managed by the server. The primary function of the MySQL privilege system is to authenticate a user who connects from a given host and to associate that user with privileges on a database such as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE. Additional functionality includes the ability to grant privileges for administrative operations.

To control which users can connect, each account can be assigned authentication credentials such as a password. The user interface to MySQL accounts consists of SQL statements such as CREATE USER, GRANT, and REVOKE. See Section 13.7.1, “Account Management Statements”.

The MySQL privilege system ensures that all users may perform only the operations permitted to them. As a user, when you connect to a MySQL server, your identity is determined by the host from which you connect and the user name you specify. When you issue requests after connecting, the system grants privileges according to your identity and what you want to do.

MySQL considers both your host name and user name in identifying you because there is no reason to assume that a given user name belongs to the same person on all hosts. For example, the user joe who connects from office.example.com need not be the same person as the user joe who connects from home.example.com. MySQL handles this by enabling you to distinguish users on different hosts that happen to have the same name: You can grant one set of privileges for connections by joe from office.example.com, and a different set of privileges for connections by joe from home.example.com. To see what privileges a given account has, use the SHOW GRANTS statement. For example:

SHOW GRANTS FOR 'joe'@'office.example.com';
SHOW GRANTS FOR 'joe'@'home.example.com';

Internally, the server stores privilege information in the grant tables of the mysql system database. The MySQL server reads the contents of these tables into memory when it starts and bases access-control decisions on the in-memory copies of the grant tables.

MySQL access control involves two stages when you run a client program that connects to the server:

Stage 1: The server accepts or rejects the connection based on your identity and whether you can verify your identity by supplying the correct password.

Stage 2: Assuming that you can connect, the server checks each statement you issue to determine whether you have sufficient privileges to perform it. For example, if you try to select rows from a table in a database or drop a table from the database, the server verifies that you have the SELECT privilege for the table or the DROP privilege for the database.

For a more detailed description of what happens during each stage, see Section 6.2.5, “Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification”, and Section 6.2.6, “Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification”. For help in diagnosing privilege-related problems, see Section 6.2.17, “Troubleshooting Problems Connecting to MySQL”.

If your privileges are changed (either by yourself or someone else) while you are connected, those changes do not necessarily take effect immediately for the next statement that you issue. For details about the conditions under which the server reloads the grant tables, see Section 6.2.9, “When Privilege Changes Take Effect”.

There are some things that you cannot do with the MySQL privilege system:

  • You cannot explicitly specify that a given user should be denied access. That is, you cannot explicitly match a user and then refuse the connection.

  • You cannot specify that a user has privileges to create or drop tables in a database but not to create or drop the database itself.

  • A password applies globally to an account. You cannot associate a password with a specific object such as a database, table, or routine.

6.2.1 Account User Names and Passwords

MySQL stores accounts in the user table of the mysql system database. An account is defined in terms of a user name and the client host or hosts from which the user can connect to the server. For information about account representation in the user table, see Section 6.2.3, “Grant Tables”.

An account may also have authentication credentials such as a password. The credentials are handled by the account authentication plugin. MySQL supports multiple authentication plugins. Some of them use built-in authentication methods, whereas others enable authentication using external authentication methods. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

There are several distinctions between the way user names and passwords are used by MySQL and your operating system:

  • User names, as used by MySQL for authentication purposes, have nothing to do with user names (login names) as used by Windows or Unix. On Unix, most MySQL clients by default try to log in using the current Unix user name as the MySQL user name, but that is for convenience only. The default can be overridden easily, because client programs permit any user name to be specified with a -u or --user option. This means that anyone can attempt to connect to the server using any user name, so you cannot make a database secure in any way unless all MySQL accounts have passwords. Anyone who specifies a user name for an account that has no password can connect successfully to the server.

  • MySQL user names are up to 32 characters long. Operating system user names may have a different maximum length.

    Warning

    The MySQL user name length limit is hardcoded in MySQL servers and clients, and trying to circumvent it by modifying the definitions of the tables in the mysql database does not work.

    You should never alter the structure of tables in the mysql database in any manner whatsoever except by means of the procedure that is described in Section 2.11, “Upgrading MySQL”. Attempting to redefine MySQL's system tables in any other fashion results in undefined and unsupported behavior. The server is free to ignore rows that become malformed as a result of such modifications.

  • To authenticate client connections for accounts that use built-in authentication methods, the server uses passwords stored in the user table. These passwords are distinct from passwords for logging in to your operating system. There is no necessary connection between the external password you use to log in to a Windows or Unix machine and the password you use to access the MySQL server on that machine.

    If the server authenticates a client using some other plugin, the authentication method that the plugin implements may or may not use a password stored in the user table. In this case, it is possible that an external password is also used to authenticate to the MySQL server.

  • Passwords stored in the user table are encrypted using plugin-specific algorithms. For information about MySQL native password hashing, see Section 6.1.2.4, “Password Hashing in MySQL”.

  • If the user name and password contain only ASCII characters, it is possible to connect to the server regardless of character set settings. To enable connections when the user name or password contain non-ASCII characters, client applications should call the mysql_options() C API function with the MYSQL_SET_CHARSET_NAME option and appropriate character set name as arguments. This causes authentication to take place using the specified character set. Otherwise, authentication fails unless the server default character set is the same as the encoding in the authentication defaults.

    Standard MySQL client programs support a --default-character-set option that causes mysql_options() to be called as just described. In addition, character set autodetection is supported as described in Section 10.4, “Connection Character Sets and Collations”. For programs that use a connector that is not based on the C API, the connector may provide an equivalent to mysql_options() that can be used instead. Check the connector documentation.

    The preceding notes do not apply for ucs2, utf16, and utf32, which are not permitted as client character sets.

The MySQL installation process populates the grant tables with an initial root account, as described in Section 2.10.4, “Securing the Initial MySQL Account”, which also discusses how to assign a password to it. Thereafter, you normally set up, modify, and remove MySQL accounts using statements such as CREATE USER, DROP USER, GRANT, and REVOKE. See Section 6.2.7, “Adding Accounts, Assigning Privileges, and Dropping Accounts”, and Section 13.7.1, “Account Management Statements”.

To connect to a MySQL server with a command-line client, specify user name and password options as necessary for the account that you want to use:

shell> mysql --user=finley --password db_name

If you prefer short options, the command looks like this:

shell> mysql -u finley -p db_name

If you omit the password value following the --password or -p option on the command line (as just shown), the client prompts for one. Alternatively, the password can be specified on the command line:

shell> mysql --user=finley --password=password db_name
shell> mysql -u finley -ppassword db_name

If you use the -p option, there must be no space between -p and the following password value.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file or a login path file. See Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”, and Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

For additional information about specifying user names, passwords, and other connection parameters, see Section 4.2.4, “Connecting to the MySQL Server Using Command Options”.

6.2.2 Privileges Provided by MySQL

The privileges granted to a MySQL account determine which operations the account can perform. MySQL privileges differ in the contexts in which they apply and at different levels of operation:

  • Administrative privileges enable users to manage operation of the MySQL server. These privileges are global because they are not specific to a particular database.

  • Database privileges apply to a database and to all objects within it. These privileges can be granted for specific databases, or globally so that they apply to all databases.

  • Privileges for database objects such as tables, indexes, views, and stored routines can be granted for specific objects within a database, for all objects of a given type within a database (for example, all tables in a database), or globally for all objects of a given type in all databases.

Information about account privileges is stored in the grant tables in the mysql system database. For a description of the structure and contents of these tables, see Section 6.2.3, “Grant Tables”. The MySQL server reads the contents of the grant tables into memory when it starts, and reloads them under the circumstances indicated in Section 6.2.9, “When Privilege Changes Take Effect”. The server bases access-control decisions on the in-memory copies of the grant tables.

Important

Some MySQL releases introduce changes to the grant tables to add new privileges or features. To make sure that you can take advantage of any new capabilities, update your grant tables to the current structure whenever you upgrade MySQL. See Section 2.11, “Upgrading MySQL”.

The following sections summarize the available privileges, provide more detailed descriptions of each privilege, and offer usage guidelines.

Summary of Available Privileges

The following table shows the privilege names used in GRANT and REVOKE statements, along with the column name associated with each privilege in the grant tables and the context in which the privilege applies.

Table 6.2 Permissible Privileges for GRANT and REVOKE

Privilege Grant Table Column Context
ALL [PRIVILEGES] Synonym for all privileges Server administration
ALTER Alter_priv Tables
ALTER ROUTINE Alter_routine_priv Stored routines
CREATE Create_priv Databases, tables, or indexes
CREATE ROUTINE Create_routine_priv Stored routines
CREATE TABLESPACE Create_tablespace_priv Server administration
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES Create_tmp_table_priv Tables
CREATE USER Create_user_priv Server administration
CREATE VIEW Create_view_priv Views
DELETE Delete_priv Tables
DROP Drop_priv Databases, tables, or views
EVENT Event_priv Databases
EXECUTE Execute_priv Stored routines
FILE File_priv File access on server host
GRANT OPTION Grant_priv Databases, tables, or stored routines
INDEX Index_priv Tables
INSERT Insert_priv Tables or columns
LOCK TABLES Lock_tables_priv Databases
PROCESS Process_priv Server administration
PROXY See proxies_priv table Server administration
REFERENCES References_priv Databases or tables
RELOAD Reload_priv Server administration
REPLICATION CLIENT Repl_client_priv Server administration
REPLICATION SLAVE Repl_slave_priv Server administration
SELECT Select_priv Tables or columns
SHOW DATABASES Show_db_priv Server administration
SHOW VIEW Show_view_priv Views
SHUTDOWN Shutdown_priv Server administration
SUPER Super_priv Server administration
TRIGGER Trigger_priv Tables
UPDATE Update_priv Tables or columns
USAGE Synonym for no privileges Server administration

Privilege Descriptions

The following list provides general descriptions of each privilege available in MySQL. Particular SQL statements might have more specific privilege requirements than indicated here. If so, the description for the statement in question provides the details.

  • ALL, ALL PRIVILEGES

    These privilege specifiers are shorthand for all privileges available at a given privilege level (except GRANT OPTION). For example, granting ALL at the global or table level grants all global privileges or all table-level privileges, respectively.

  • ALTER

    Enables use of the ALTER TABLE statement to change the structure of tables. ALTER TABLE also requires the CREATE and INSERT privileges. Renaming a table requires ALTER and DROP on the old table, CREATE, and INSERT on the new table.

  • ALTER ROUTINE

    Enables use of statements that alter or drop stored routines (stored procedures and functions).

  • CREATE

    Enables use of statements that create new databases and tables.

  • CREATE ROUTINE

    Enables use of statements that create stored routines (stored procedures and functions).

  • CREATE TABLESPACE

    Enables use of statements that create, alter, or drop tablespaces and log file groups.

  • CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES

    Enables the creation of temporary tables using the CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE statement.

    After a session has created a temporary table, the server performs no further privilege checks on the table. The creating session can perform any operation on the table, such as DROP TABLE, INSERT, UPDATE, or SELECT. For more information, see Section 13.1.18.3, “CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE Statement”.

  • CREATE USER

    Enables use of the ALTER USER, CREATE USER, DROP USER, RENAME USER, and REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES statements.

  • CREATE VIEW

    Enables use of the CREATE VIEW statement.

  • DELETE

    Enables rows to be deleted from tables in a database.

  • DROP

    Enables use of statements that drop (remove) existing databases, tables, and views. The DROP privilege is required to use the ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION statement on a partitioned table. The DROP privilege is also required for TRUNCATE TABLE.

  • EVENT

    Enables use of statements that create, alter, drop, or display events for the Event Scheduler.

  • EXECUTE

    Enables use of statements that execute stored routines (stored procedures and functions).

  • FILE

    Affects the following operations and server behaviors:

    • Enables reading and writing files on the server host using the LOAD DATA and SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE statements and the LOAD_FILE() function. A user who has the FILE privilege can read any file on the server host that is either world-readable or readable by the MySQL server. (This implies the user can read any file in any database directory, because the server can access any of those files.)

    • Enables creating new files in any directory where the MySQL server has write access. This includes the server's data directory containing the files that implement the privilege tables.

    • As of MySQL 5.7.17, enables use of the DATA DIRECTORY or INDEX DIRECTORY table option for the CREATE TABLE statement.

    As a security measure, the server does not overwrite existing files.

    To limit the location in which files can be read and written, set the secure_file_priv system variable to a specific directory. See Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”.

  • GRANT OPTION

    Enables you to grant to or revoke from other users those privileges that you yourself possess.

  • INDEX

    Enables use of statements that create or drop (remove) indexes. INDEX applies to existing tables. If you have the CREATE privilege for a table, you can include index definitions in the CREATE TABLE statement.

  • INSERT

    Enables rows to be inserted into tables in a database. INSERT is also required for the ANALYZE TABLE, OPTIMIZE TABLE, and REPAIR TABLE table-maintenance statements.

  • LOCK TABLES

    Enables use of explicit LOCK TABLES statements to lock tables for which you have the SELECT privilege. This includes use of write locks, which prevents other sessions from reading the locked table.

  • PROCESS

    Enables display of information about the threads executing within the server (that is, information about the statements being executed by sessions). The privilege enables use of SHOW PROCESSLIST or mysqladmin processlist to see threads belonging to other accounts; you can always see your own threads. The PROCESS privilege also enables use of SHOW ENGINE.

  • PROXY

    Enables one user to impersonate or become known as another user. See Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

  • REFERENCES

    Creation of a foreign key constraint requires the REFERENCES privilege for the parent table.

  • RELOAD

    Enables use of the FLUSH statement. It also enables mysqladmin commands that are equivalent to FLUSH operations: flush-hosts, flush-logs, flush-privileges, flush-status, flush-tables, flush-threads, refresh, and reload.

    The reload command tells the server to reload the grant tables into memory. flush-privileges is a synonym for reload. The refresh command closes and reopens the log files and flushes all tables. The other flush-xxx commands perform functions similar to refresh, but are more specific and may be preferable in some instances. For example, if you want to flush just the log files, flush-logs is a better choice than refresh.

    The RELOAD privilege also enables use of the RESET MASTER and RESET SLAVE statements.

  • REPLICATION CLIENT

    Enables use of the SHOW MASTER STATUS, SHOW SLAVE STATUS, and SHOW BINARY LOGS statements. Grant this privilege to accounts that are used by slave servers to connect to the current server as their master.

  • REPLICATION SLAVE

    Enables the account to request updates that have been made to databases on the master server, using the SHOW SLAVE HOSTS, SHOW RELAYLOG EVENTS, and SHOW BINLOG EVENTS statements. This privilege is also required to use the mysqlbinlog options --read-from-remote-server (-R) and --read-from-remote-master. Grant this privilege to accounts that are used by slave servers to connect to the current server as their master.

  • SELECT

    Enables rows to be selected from tables in a database. SELECT statements require the SELECT privilege only if they actually access tables. Some SELECT statements do not access tables and can be executed without permission for any database. For example, you can use SELECT as a simple calculator to evaluate expressions that make no reference to tables:

    SELECT 1+1;
    SELECT PI()*2;

    The SELECT privilege is also needed for other statements that read column values. For example, SELECT is needed for columns referenced on the right hand side of col_name=expr assignment in UPDATE statements or for columns named in the WHERE clause of DELETE or UPDATE statements.

    The SELECT privilege is needed for tables or views used with EXPLAIN, including any underlying tables in view definitions.

  • SHOW DATABASES

    Enables the account to see database names by issuing the SHOW DATABASE statement. Accounts that do not have this privilege see only databases for which they have some privileges, and cannot use the statement at all if the server was started with the --skip-show-database option.

    Caution

    Because a global privilege is considered a privilege for all databases, any global privilege enables a user to see all database names with SHOW DATABASES or by examining the INFORMATION_SCHEMA SCHEMATA table.

  • SHOW VIEW

    Enables use of the SHOW CREATE VIEW statement. This privilege is also needed for views used with EXPLAIN.

  • SHUTDOWN

    Enables use of the SHUTDOWN statement, the mysqladmin shutdown command, and the mysql_shutdown() C API function.

  • SUPER

    Affects the following operations and server behaviors:

    • Enables server configuration changes by modifying global system variables. For some system variables, setting the session value also requires the SUPER privilege. If a system variable is restricted and requires a special privilege to set the session value, the variable description indicates that restriction. Examples include binlog_format, sql_log_bin, and sql_log_off. See also Section 5.1.8.1, “System Variable Privileges”.

    • Enables changes to global transaction characteristics (see Section 13.3.6, “SET TRANSACTION Statement”).

    • Enables the account to start and stop replication, including Group Replication.

    • Enables use of the CHANGE MASTER TO and CHANGE REPLICATION FILTER statements.

    • Enables binary log control by means of the PURGE BINARY LOGS and BINLOG statements.

    • Enables setting the effective authorization ID when executing a view or stored program. A user with this privilege can specify any account in the DEFINER attribute of a view or stored program.

    • Enables use of the CREATE SERVER, ALTER SERVER, and DROP SERVER statements.

    • Enables use of the mysqladmin debug command.

    • Enables InnoDB encryption key rotation.

    • Enables reading the DES key file by the DES_ENCRYPT() function.

    • Enables execution of Version Tokens user-defined functions.

    • Enables control over client connections not permitted to non-SUPER accounts:

      • Enables use of the KILL statement or mysqladmin kill command to kill threads belonging to other accounts. (An account can always kill its own threads.)

      • The server does not execute init_connect system variable content when SUPER clients connect.

      • The server accepts one connection from a SUPER client even if the connection limit configured by the max_connections system variable is reached.

      • A server in offline mode (offline_mode enabled) does not terminate SUPER client connections at the next client request, and accepts new connections from SUPER clients.

      • Updates can be performed even when the read_only system variable is enabled. This applies to explicit table updates, and to use of account-management statements such as GRANT and REVOKE that update tables implicitly.

    You may also need the SUPER privilege to create or alter stored functions if binary logging is enabled, as described in Section 23.7, “Stored Program Binary Logging”.

  • TRIGGER

    Enables trigger operations. You must have this privilege for a table to create, drop, execute, or display triggers for that table.

    When a trigger is activated (by a user who has privileges to execute INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements for the table associated with the trigger), trigger execution requires that the user who defined the trigger still have the TRIGGER privilege for the table.

  • UPDATE

    Enables rows to be updated in tables in a database.

  • USAGE

    This privilege specifier stands for no privileges. It is used at the global level with GRANT to modify account attributes such as resource limits or SSL characteristics without naming specific account privileges in the privilege list. SHOW GRANTS displays USAGE to indicate that an account has no privileges at a privilege level.

Privilege-Granting Guidelines

It is a good idea to grant to an account only those privileges that it needs. You should exercise particular caution in granting the FILE and administrative privileges:

  • FILE can be abused to read into a database table any files that the MySQL server can read on the server host. This includes all world-readable files and files in the server's data directory. The table can then be accessed using SELECT to transfer its contents to the client host.

  • GRANT OPTION enables users to give their privileges to other users. Two users that have different privileges and with the GRANT OPTION privilege are able to combine privileges.

  • ALTER may be used to subvert the privilege system by renaming tables.

  • SHUTDOWN can be abused to deny service to other users entirely by terminating the server.

  • PROCESS can be used to view the plain text of currently executing statements, including statements that set or change passwords.

  • SUPER can be used to terminate other sessions or change how the server operates.

  • Privileges granted for the mysql system database itself can be used to change passwords and other access privilege information:

    • Passwords are stored encrypted, so a malicious user cannot simply read them to know the plain text password. However, a user with write access to the mysql.user system table authentication_string column can change an account's password, and then connect to the MySQL server using that account.

    • INSERT or UPDATE granted for the mysql system database enable a user to add privileges or modify existing privileges, respectively.

    • DROP for the mysql system database enables a user to remote privilege tables, or even the database itself.

6.2.3 Grant Tables

The mysql system database includes several grant tables that contain information about user accounts and the privileges held by them. This section describes those tables. For information about other tables in the system database, see Section 5.3, “The mysql System Database”.

The discussion here describes the underlying structure of the grant tables and how the server uses their contents when interacting with clients. However, normally you do not modify the grant tables directly. Modifications occur indirectly when you use account-management statements such as CREATE USER, GRANT, and REVOKE to set up accounts and control the privileges available to each one. See Section 13.7.1, “Account Management Statements”. When you use such statements to perform account manipulations, the server modifies the grant tables on your behalf.

Note

Direct modification of grant tables using statements such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE is discouraged and done at your own risk. The server is free to ignore rows that become malformed as a result of such modifications.

As of MySQL 5.7.18, for any operation that modifies a grant table, the server checks whether the table has the expected structure and produces an error if not. To update the tables to the expected structure, perform the MySQL upgrade procedure. See Section 2.11, “Upgrading MySQL”.

Grant Table Overview

These mysql database tables contain grant information:

  • user: User accounts, global privileges, and other nonprivilege columns.

  • db: Database-level privileges.

  • tables_priv: Table-level privileges.

  • columns_priv: Column-level privileges.

  • procs_priv: Stored procedure and function privileges.

  • proxies_priv: Proxy-user privileges.

Each grant table contains scope columns and privilege columns:

  • Scope columns determine the scope of each row in the tables; that is, the context in which the row applies. For example, a user table row with Host and User values of 'h1.example.net' and 'bob' applies to authenticating connections made to the server from the host h1.example.net by a client that specifies a user name of bob. Similarly, a db table row with Host, User, and Db column values of 'h1.example.net', 'bob' and 'reports' applies when bob connects from the host h1.example.net to access the reports database. The tables_priv and columns_priv tables contain scope columns indicating tables or table/column combinations to which each row applies. The procs_priv scope columns indicate the stored routine to which each row applies.

  • Privilege columns indicate which privileges a table row grants; that is, which operations it permits to be performed. The server combines the information in the various grant tables to form a complete description of a user's privileges. Section 6.2.6, “Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification”, describes the rules for this.

In addition, a grant table may contain columns used for purposes other than scope or privilege assessment.

The server uses the grant tables in the following manner:

  • The user table scope columns determine whether to reject or permit incoming connections. For permitted connections, any privileges granted in the user table indicate the user's global privileges. Any privileges granted in this table apply to all databases on the server.

    Caution

    Because a global privilege is considered a privilege for all databases, any global privilege enables a user to see all database names with SHOW DATABASES or by examining the INFORMATION_SCHEMA SCHEMATA table.

  • The db table scope columns determine which users can access which databases from which hosts. The privilege columns determine the permitted operations. A privilege granted at the database level applies to the database and to all objects in the database, such as tables and stored programs.

  • The tables_priv and columns_priv tables are similar to the db table, but are more fine-grained: They apply at the table and column levels rather than at the database level. A privilege granted at the table level applies to the table and to all its columns. A privilege granted at the column level applies only to a specific column.

  • The procs_priv table applies to stored routines (stored procedures and functions). A privilege granted at the routine level applies only to a single procedure or function.

  • The proxies_priv table indicates which users can act as proxies for other users and whether a user can grant the PROXY privilege to other users.

The server reads the contents of the grant tables into memory when it starts. You can tell it to reload the tables by issuing a FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement or executing a mysqladmin flush-privileges or mysqladmin reload command. Changes to the grant tables take effect as indicated in Section 6.2.9, “When Privilege Changes Take Effect”.

When you modify an account, it is a good idea to verify that your changes have the intended effect. To check the privileges for a given account, use the SHOW GRANTS statement. For example, to determine the privileges that are granted to an account with user name and host name values of bob and pc84.example.com, use this statement:

SHOW GRANTS FOR 'bob'@'pc84.example.com';

To display nonprivilege properties of an account, use SHOW CREATE USER:

SHOW CREATE USER 'bob'@'pc84.example.com';

The user and db Grant Tables

The server uses the user and db tables in the mysql database at both the first and second stages of access control (see Section 6.2, “Access Control and Account Management”). The columns in the user and db tables are shown here.

Table 6.3 user and db Table Columns

Table Name user db
Scope columns Host Host
User Db
User
Privilege columns Select_priv Select_priv
Insert_priv Insert_priv
Update_priv Update_priv
Delete_priv Delete_priv
Index_priv Index_priv
Alter_priv Alter_priv
Create_priv Create_priv
Drop_priv Drop_priv
Grant_priv Grant_priv
Create_view_priv Create_view_priv
Show_view_priv Show_view_priv
Create_routine_priv Create_routine_priv
Alter_routine_priv Alter_routine_priv
Execute_priv Execute_priv
Trigger_priv Trigger_priv
Event_priv Event_priv
Create_tmp_table_priv Create_tmp_table_priv
Lock_tables_priv Lock_tables_priv
References_priv References_priv
Reload_priv
Shutdown_priv
Process_priv
File_priv
Show_db_priv
Super_priv
Repl_slave_priv
Repl_client_priv
Create_user_priv
Create_tablespace_priv
Security columns ssl_type
ssl_cipher
x509_issuer
x509_subject
plugin
authentication_string
password_expired
password_last_changed
password_lifetime
account_locked
Resource control columns max_questions
max_updates
max_connections
max_user_connections

The user table plugin and authentication_string columns store authentication plugin and credential information.

The server uses the plugin named in the plugin column of an account row to authenticate connection attempts for the account.

The plugin column must be nonempty. At startup, and at runtime when FLUSH PRIVILEGES is executed, the server checks user table rows. For any row with an empty plugin column, the server writes a warning to the error log of this form:

[Warning] User entry 'user_name'@'host_name' has an empty plugin
value. The user will be ignored and no one can login with this user
anymore.

To address this problem, see Section 6.4.1.3, “Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin”.

The password_expired column permits DBAs to expire account passwords and require users to reset their password. The default password_expired value is 'N', but can be set to 'Y' with the ALTER USER statement. After an account's password has been expired, all operations performed by the account in subsequent connections to the server result in an error until the user issues an ALTER USER statement to establish a new account password.

Note

Although it is possible to reset an expired password by setting it to its current value, it is preferable, as a matter of good policy, to choose a different password.

password_last_changed is a TIMESTAMP column indicating when the password was last changed. The value is non-NULL only for accounts that use MySQL built-in authentication methods (accounts that use an authentication plugin of mysql_native_password or sha256_password). The value is NULL for other accounts, such as those authenticated using an external authentication system.

password_last_changed is updated by the CREATE USER, ALTER USER, and SET PASSWORD statements, and by GRANT statements that create an account or change an account password.

password_lifetime indicates the account password lifetime, in days. If the password is past its lifetime (assessed using the password_last_changed column), the server considers the password expired when clients connect using the account. A value of N greater than zero means that the password must be changed every N days. A value of 0 disables automatic password expiration. If the value is NULL (the default), the global expiration policy applies, as defined by the default_password_lifetime system variable.

account_locked indicates whether the account is locked (see Section 6.2.15, “Account Locking”).

The tables_priv and columns_priv Grant Tables

During the second stage of access control, the server performs request verification to ensure that each client has sufficient privileges for each request that it issues. In addition to the user and db grant tables, the server may also consult the tables_priv and columns_priv tables for requests that involve tables. The latter tables provide finer privilege control at the table and column levels. They have the columns shown in the following table.

Table 6.4 tables_priv and columns_priv Table Columns

Table Name tables_priv columns_priv
Scope columns Host Host
Db Db
User User
Table_name Table_name
Column_name
Privilege columns Table_priv Column_priv
Column_priv
Other columns Timestamp Timestamp
Grantor

The Timestamp and Grantor columns are set to the current timestamp and the CURRENT_USER value, respectively, but are otherwise unused.

The procs_priv Grant Table

For verification of requests that involve stored routines, the server may consult the procs_priv table, which has the columns shown in the following table.

Table 6.5 procs_priv Table Columns

Table Name procs_priv
Scope columns Host
Db
User
Routine_name
Routine_type
Privilege columns Proc_priv
Other columns Timestamp
Grantor

The Routine_type column is an ENUM column with values of 'FUNCTION' or 'PROCEDURE' to indicate the type of routine the row refers to. This column enables privileges to be granted separately for a function and a procedure with the same name.

The Timestamp and Grantor columns are unused.

The proxies_priv Grant Table

The proxies_priv table records information about proxy accounts. It has these columns:

  • Host, User: The proxy account; that is, the account that has the PROXY privilege for the proxied account.

  • Proxied_host, Proxied_user: The proxied account.

  • Grantor, Timestamp: Unused.

  • With_grant: Whether the proxy account can grant the PROXY privilege to other accounts.

For an account to be able to grant the PROXY privilege to other accounts, it must have a row in the proxies_priv table with With_grant set to 1 and Proxied_host and Proxied_user set to indicate the account or accounts for which the privilege can be granted. For example, the 'root'@'localhost' account created during MySQL installation has a row in the proxies_priv table that enables granting the PROXY privilege for ''@'', that is, for all users and all hosts. This enables root to set up proxy users, as well as to delegate to other accounts the authority to set up proxy users. See Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

Grant Table Scope Column Properties

Scope columns in the grant tables contain strings. The default value for each is the empty string. The following table shows the number of characters permitted in each column.

Table 6.6 Grant Table Scope Column Lengths

Column Name Maximum Permitted Characters
Host, Proxied_host 60
User, Proxied_user 32
Password 41
Db 64
Table_name 64
Column_name 64
Routine_name 64

Host and Proxied_host values are converted to lowercase before being stored in the grant tables.

For access-checking purposes, comparisons of User, Proxied_user, Password, authentication_string, Db, and Table_name values are case-sensitive. Comparisons of Host, Proxied_host, Column_name, and Routine_name values are not case-sensitive.

Grant Table Privilege Column Properties

The user and db tables list each privilege in a separate column that is declared as ENUM('N','Y') DEFAULT 'N'. In other words, each privilege can be disabled or enabled, with the default being disabled.

The tables_priv, columns_priv, and procs_priv tables declare the privilege columns as SET columns. Values in these columns can contain any combination of the privileges controlled by the table. Only those privileges listed in the column value are enabled.

Table 6.7 Set-Type Privilege Column Values

Table Name Column Name Possible Set Elements
tables_priv Table_priv 'Select', 'Insert', 'Update', 'Delete', 'Create', 'Drop', 'Grant', 'References', 'Index', 'Alter', 'Create View', 'Show view', 'Trigger'
tables_priv Column_priv 'Select', 'Insert', 'Update', 'References'
columns_priv Column_priv 'Select', 'Insert', 'Update', 'References'
procs_priv Proc_priv 'Execute', 'Alter Routine', 'Grant'

Only the user table specifies administrative privileges, such as RELOAD and SHUTDOWN. Administrative operations are operations on the server itself and are not database-specific, so there is no reason to list these privileges in the other grant tables. Consequently, the server need consult only the user table to determine whether a user can perform an administrative operation.

The FILE privilege also is specified only in the user table. It is not an administrative privilege as such, but a user's ability to read or write files on the server host is independent of the database being accessed.

6.2.4 Specifying Account Names

MySQL account names consist of a user name and a host name, which enables creation of distinct accounts for users with the same user name who can connect from different hosts. This section describes how to write account names, including special values and wildcard rules.

In SQL statements such as CREATE USER, GRANT, and SET PASSWORD, account names follow these rules:

  • Account name syntax is 'user_name'@'host_name'.

  • An account name consisting only of a user name is equivalent to 'user_name'@'%'. For example, 'me' is equivalent to 'me'@'%'.

  • The user name and host name need not be quoted if they are legal as unquoted identifiers. Quotes are necessary to specify a user_name string containing special characters (such as space or -), or a host_name string containing special characters or wildcard characters (such as . or %). For example, in the account name 'test-user'@'%.com', both the user name and host name parts require quotes.

  • Quote user names and host names as identifiers or as strings, using either backticks (`), single quotation marks ('), or double quotation marks ("). For string-quoting and identifier-quoting guidelines, see Section 9.1.1, “String Literals”, and Section 9.2, “Schema Object Names”.

  • The user name and host name parts, if quoted, must be quoted separately. That is, write 'me'@'localhost', not 'me@localhost'. The latter is actually equivalent to 'me@localhost'@'%'.

  • A reference to the CURRENT_USER or CURRENT_USER() function is equivalent to specifying the current client's user name and host name literally.

MySQL stores account names in grant tables in the mysql system database using separate columns for the user name and host name parts:

  • The user table contains one row for each account. The User and Host columns store the user name and host name. This table also indicates which global privileges the account has.

  • Other grant tables indicate privileges an account has for databases and objects within databases. These tables have User and Host columns to store the account name. Each row in these tables associates with the account in the user table that has the same User and Host values.

  • For access-checking purposes, comparisons of User values are case-sensitive. Comparisons of Host values are not case-sensitive.

For additional detail about the properties of user names and host names as stored in the grant tables, such as maximum length, see Grant Table Scope Column Properties.

User names and host names have certain special values or wildcard conventions, as described following.

The user name part of an account name is either a nonblank value that literally matches the user name for incoming connection attempts, or a blank value (empty string) that matches any user name. An account with a blank user name is an anonymous user. To specify an anonymous user in SQL statements, use a quoted empty user name part, such as ''@'localhost'.

The host name part of an account name can take many forms, and wildcards are permitted:

  • A host value can be a host name or an IP address (IPv4 or IPv6). The name 'localhost' indicates the local host. The IP address '127.0.0.1' indicates the IPv4 loopback interface. The IP address '::1' indicates the IPv6 loopback interface.

  • The % and _ wildcard characters are permitted in host name or IP address values. These have the same meaning as for pattern-matching operations performed with the LIKE operator. For example, a host value of '%' matches any host name, whereas a value of '%.mysql.com' matches any host in the mysql.com domain. '198.51.100.%' matches any host in the 198.51.100 class C network.

    Because IP wildcard values are permitted in host values (for example, '198.51.100.%' to match every host on a subnet), someone could try to exploit this capability by naming a host 198.51.100.somewhere.com. To foil such attempts, MySQL does not perform matching on host names that start with digits and a dot. For example, if a host is named 1.2.example.com, its name never matches the host part of account names. An IP wildcard value can match only IP addresses, not host names.

  • For a host value specified as an IPv4 address, a netmask can be given to indicate how many address bits to use for the network number. Netmask notation cannot be used for IPv6 addresses.

    The syntax is host_ip/netmask. For example:

    CREATE USER 'david'@'198.51.100.0/255.255.255.0';

    This enables david to connect from any client host having an IP address client_ip for which the following condition is true:

    client_ip & netmask = host_ip
    

    That is, for the CREATE USER statement just shown:

    client_ip & 255.255.255.0 = 198.51.100.0
    

    IP addresses that satisfy this condition range from 198.51.100.0 to 198.51.100.255.

    A netmask typically begins with bits set to 1, followed by bits set to 0. Examples:

    • 198.0.0.0/255.0.0.0: Any host on the 198 class A network

    • 198.51.100.0/255.255.0.0: Any host on the 198.51 class B network

    • 198.51.100.0/255.255.255.0: Any host on the 198.51.100 class C network

    • 198.51.100.1: Only the host with this specific IP address

The server performs matching of host values in account names against the client host using the value returned by the system DNS resolver for the client host name or IP address. Except in the case that the account host value is specified using netmask notation, the server performs this comparison as a string match, even for an account host value given as an IP address. This means that you should specify account host values in the same format used by DNS. Here are examples of problems to watch out for:

  • Suppose that a host on the local network has a fully qualified name of host1.example.com. If DNS returns name lookups for this host as host1.example.com, use that name in account host values. If DNS returns just host1, use host1 instead.

  • If DNS returns the IP address for a given host as 198.51.100.2, that will match an account host value of 198.51.100.2 but not 198.051.100.2. Similarly, it will match an account host pattern like 198.51.100.% but not 198.051.100.%.

To avoid problems like these, it is advisable to check the format in which your DNS returns host names and addresses. Use values in the same format in MySQL account names.

6.2.5 Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification

When you attempt to connect to a MySQL server, the server accepts or rejects the connection based on these conditions:

  • Your identity and whether you can verify your identity by supplying the correct password

  • Whether your account is locked or unlocked

The server checks credentials first, then account locking state. A failure for either step causes the server to deny access to you completely. Otherwise, the server accepts the connection, and then enters Stage 2 and waits for requests.

Credential checking is performed using the three user table scope columns (Host, User, and authentication_string). Locking state is recorded in the user table account_locked column. The server accepts the connection only if the Host and User columns in some user table row match the client host name and user name, the client supplies the password specified in that row, and the account_locked value is 'N'. The rules for permissible Host and User values are given in Section 6.2.4, “Specifying Account Names”. Account locking can be changed with the ALTER USER statement.

Your identity is based on two pieces of information:

  • The client host from which you connect

  • Your MySQL user name

If the User column value is nonblank, the user name in an incoming connection must match exactly. If the User value is blank, it matches any user name. If the user table row that matches an incoming connection has a blank user name, the user is considered to be an anonymous user with no name, not a user with the name that the client actually specified. This means that a blank user name is used for all further access checking for the duration of the connection (that is, during Stage 2).

The authentication_string column can be blank. This is not a wildcard and does not mean that any password matches. It means that the user must connect without specifying a password. If the server authenticates a client using a plugin, the authentication method that the plugin implements may or may not use the password in the authentication_string column. In this case, it is possible that an external password is also used to authenticate to the MySQL server.

Nonblank authentication_string values in the user table represent encrypted passwords. MySQL does not store passwords as cleartext for anyone to see. Rather, the password supplied by a user who is attempting to connect is encrypted (using the password hashing method implemented by the account authentication plugin). The encrypted password then is used during the connection process when checking whether the password is correct. This is done without the encrypted password ever traveling over the connection. See Section 6.2.1, “Account User Names and Passwords”.

From MySQL's point of view, the encrypted password is the real password, so you should never give anyone access to it. In particular, do not give nonadministrative users read access to tables in the mysql system database.

The following table shows how various combinations of User and Host values in the user table apply to incoming connections.

User Value Host Value Permissible Connections
'fred' 'h1.example.net' fred, connecting from h1.example.net
'' 'h1.example.net' Any user, connecting from h1.example.net
'fred' '%' fred, connecting from any host
'' '%' Any user, connecting from any host
'fred' '%.example.net' fred, connecting from any host in the example.net domain
'fred' 'x.example.%' fred, connecting from x.example.net, x.example.com, x.example.edu, and so on; this is probably not useful
'fred' '198.51.100.177' fred, connecting from the host with IP address 198.51.100.177
'fred' '198.51.100.%' fred, connecting from any host in the 198.51.100 class C subnet
'fred' '198.51.100.0/255.255.255.0' Same as previous example

It is possible for the client host name and user name of an incoming connection to match more than one row in the user table. The preceding set of examples demonstrates this: Several of the entries shown match a connection from h1.example.net by fred.

When multiple matches are possible, the server must determine which of them to use. It resolves this issue as follows:

  • Whenever the server reads the user table into memory, it sorts the rows.

  • When a client attempts to connect, the server looks through the rows in sorted order.

  • The server uses the first row that matches the client host name and user name.

The server uses sorting rules that order rows with the most-specific Host values first. Literal host names and IP addresses are the most specific. (The specificity of a literal IP address is not affected by whether it has a netmask, so 198.51.100.13 and 198.51.100.0/255.255.255.0 are considered equally specific.) The pattern '%' means any host and is least specific. The empty string '' also means any host but sorts after '%'. Rows with the same Host value are ordered with the most-specific User values first (a blank User value means any user and is least specific). For rows with equally-specific Host and User values, the order is nondeterministic.

To see how this works, suppose that the user table looks like this:

+-----------+----------+-
| Host      | User     | ...
+-----------+----------+-
| %         | root     | ...
| %         | jeffrey  | ...
| localhost | root     | ...
| localhost |          | ...
+-----------+----------+-

When the server reads the table into memory, it sorts the rows using the rules just described. The result after sorting looks like this:

+-----------+----------+-
| Host      | User     | ...
+-----------+----------+-
| localhost | root     | ...
| localhost |          | ...
| %         | jeffrey  | ...
| %         | root     | ...
+-----------+----------+-

When a client attempts to connect, the server looks through the sorted rows and uses the first match found. For a connection from localhost by jeffrey, two of the rows from the table match: the one with Host and User values of 'localhost' and '', and the one with values of '%' and 'jeffrey'. The 'localhost' row appears first in sorted order, so that is the one the server uses.

Here is another example. Suppose that the user table looks like this:

+----------------+----------+-
| Host           | User     | ...
+----------------+----------+-
| %              | jeffrey  | ...
| h1.example.net |          | ...
+----------------+----------+-

The sorted table looks like this:

+----------------+----------+-
| Host           | User     | ...
+----------------+----------+-
| h1.example.net |          | ...
| %              | jeffrey  | ...
+----------------+----------+-

A connection by jeffrey from h1.example.net is matched by the first row, whereas a connection by jeffrey from any host is matched by the second.

Note

It is a common misconception to think that, for a given user name, all rows that explicitly name that user are used first when the server attempts to find a match for the connection. This is not true. The preceding example illustrates this, where a connection from h1.example.net by jeffrey is first matched not by the row containing 'jeffrey' as the User column value, but by the row with no user name. As a result, jeffrey is authenticated as an anonymous user, even though he specified a user name when connecting.

If you are able to connect to the server, but your privileges are not what you expect, you probably are being authenticated as some other account. To find out what account the server used to authenticate you, use the CURRENT_USER() function. (See Section 12.15, “Information Functions”.) It returns a value in user_name@host_name format that indicates the User and Host values from the matching user table row. Suppose that jeffrey connects and issues the following query:

mysql> SELECT CURRENT_USER();
+----------------+
| CURRENT_USER() |
+----------------+
| @localhost     |
+----------------+

The result shown here indicates that the matching user table row had a blank User column value. In other words, the server is treating jeffrey as an anonymous user.

Another way to diagnose authentication problems is to print out the user table and sort it by hand to see where the first match is being made.

6.2.6 Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification

After you establish a connection, the server enters Stage 2 of access control. For each request that you issue through that connection, the server determines what operation you want to perform, then checks whether you have sufficient privileges to do so. This is where the privilege columns in the grant tables come into play. These privileges can come from any of the user, db, tables_priv, columns_priv, or procs_priv tables. (You may find it helpful to refer to Section 6.2.3, “Grant Tables”, which lists the columns present in each grant table.)

The user table grants global privileges. The user table row for an account indicates the account privileges that apply on a global basis no matter what the default database is. For example, if the user table grants you the DELETE privilege, you can delete rows from any table in any database on the server host. It is wise to grant privileges in the user table only to people who need them, such as database administrators. For other users, leave all privileges in the user table set to 'N' and grant privileges at more specific levels only (for particular databases, tables, columns, or routines).

The db table grants database-specific privileges. Values in the scope columns of this table can take the following forms:

  • A blank User value matches the anonymous user. A nonblank value matches literally; there are no wildcards in user names.

  • The wildcard characters % and _ can be used in the Host and Db columns. These have the same meaning as for pattern-matching operations performed with the LIKE operator. If you want to use either character literally when granting privileges, you must escape it with a backslash. For example, to include the underscore character (_) as part of a database name, specify it as \_ in the GRANT statement.

  • A '%' or blank Host value means any host.

  • A '%' or blank Db value means any database.

The server reads the db table into memory and sorts it at the same time that it reads the user table. The server sorts the db table based on the Host, Db, and User scope columns. As with the user table, sorting puts the most-specific values first and least-specific values last, and when the server looks for matching rows, it uses the first match that it finds.

The tables_priv, columns_priv, and procs_priv tables grant table-specific, column-specific, and routine-specific privileges. Values in the scope columns of these tables can take the following forms:

  • The wildcard characters % and _ can be used in the Host column. These have the same meaning as for pattern-matching operations performed with the LIKE operator.

  • A '%' or blank Host value means any host.

  • The Db, Table_name, Column_name, and Routine_name columns cannot contain wildcards or be blank.

The server sorts the tables_priv, columns_priv, and procs_priv tables based on the Host, Db, and User columns. This is similar to db table sorting, but simpler because only the Host column can contain wildcards.

The server uses the sorted tables to verify each request that it receives. For requests that require administrative privileges such as SHUTDOWN or RELOAD, the server checks only the user table row because that is the only table that specifies administrative privileges. The server grants access if the row permits the requested operation and denies access otherwise. For example, if you want to execute mysqladmin shutdown but your user table row does not grant the SHUTDOWN privilege to you, the server denies access without even checking the db table. (The latter table contains no Shutdown_priv column, so there is no need to check it.)

For database-related requests (INSERT, UPDATE, and so on), the server first checks the user's global privileges in the user table row. If the row permits the requested operation, access is granted. If the global privileges in the user table are insufficient, the server determines the user's database-specific privileges from the db table:

The server looks in the db table for a match on the Host, Db, and User columns. The Host and User columns are matched to the connecting user's host name and MySQL user name. The Db column is matched to the database that the user wants to access. If there is no row for the Host and User, access is denied.

After determining the database-specific privileges granted by the db table rows, the server adds them to the global privileges granted by the user table. If the result permits the requested operation, access is granted. Otherwise, the server successively checks the user's table and column privileges in the tables_priv and columns_priv tables, adds those to the user's privileges, and permits or denies access based on the result. For stored-routine operations, the server uses the procs_priv table rather than tables_priv and columns_priv.

Expressed in boolean terms, the preceding description of how a user's privileges are calculated may be summarized like this:

global privileges
OR (database privileges AND host privileges)
OR table privileges
OR column privileges
OR routine privileges

It may not be apparent why, if the global privileges are initially found to be insufficient for the requested operation, the server adds those privileges to the database, table, and column privileges later. The reason is that a request might require more than one type of privilege. For example, if you execute an INSERT INTO ... SELECT statement, you need both the INSERT and the SELECT privileges. Your privileges might be such that the user table row grants one privilege global and the db table row grants the other specifically for the relevant database. In this case, you have the necessary privileges to perform the request, but the server cannot tell that from either your global or database privileges alone. It must make an access-control decision based on the combined privileges.

6.2.7 Adding Accounts, Assigning Privileges, and Dropping Accounts

To manage MySQL accounts, use the SQL statements intended for that purpose:

Account-management statements cause the server to make appropriate modifications to the underlying grant tables, which are discussed in Section 6.2.3, “Grant Tables”.

Note

Direct modification of grant tables using statements such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE is discouraged and done at your own risk. The server is free to ignore rows that become malformed as a result of such modifications.

As of MySQL 5.7.18, for any operation that modifies a grant table, the server checks whether the table has the expected structure and produces an error if not. mysql_upgrade must be run to update the tables to the expected structure.

Another option for creating accounts is to use the GUI tool MySQL Workbench. Also, several third-party programs offer capabilities for MySQL account administration. phpMyAdmin is one such program.

This section discusses the following topics:

For additional information about the statements discussed here, see Section 13.7.1, “Account Management Statements”.

Creating Accounts and Granting Privileges

The following examples show how to use the mysql client program to set up new accounts. These examples assume that the MySQL root account has the CREATE USER privilege and all privileges that it grants to other accounts.

At the command line, connect to the server as the MySQL root user, supplying the appropriate password at the password prompt:

shell> mysql -u root -p
Enter password: (enter root password here)

After connecting to the server, you can add new accounts. The following example uses CREATE USER and GRANT statements to set up four accounts (where you see 'password', substitute an appropriate password):

CREATE USER 'finley'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL
  ON *.*
  TO 'finley'@'localhost'
  WITH GRANT OPTION;

CREATE USER 'finley'@'%.example.com'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL
  ON *.*
  TO 'finley'@'%.example.com'
  WITH GRANT OPTION;

CREATE USER 'admin'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT RELOAD,PROCESS
  ON *.*
  TO 'admin'@'localhost';

CREATE USER 'dummy'@'localhost';

The accounts created by those statements have the following properties:

  • Two accounts have a user name of finley. Both are superuser accounts with full global privileges to do anything. The 'finley'@'localhost' account can be used only when connecting from the local host. The 'finley'@'%.example.com' account uses the '%' wildcard in the host part, so it can be used to connect from any host in the example.com domain.

    The 'finley'@'localhost' account is necessary if there is an anonymous-user account for localhost. Without the 'finley'@'localhost' account, that anonymous-user account takes precedence when finley connects from the local host and finley is treated as an anonymous user. The reason for this is that the anonymous-user account has a more specific Host column value than the 'finley'@'%' account and thus comes earlier in the user table sort order. (For information about user table sorting, see Section 6.2.5, “Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification”.)

  • The 'admin'@'localhost' account can be used only by admin to connect from the local host. It is granted the global RELOAD and PROCESS administrative privileges. These privileges enable the admin user to execute the mysqladmin reload, mysqladmin refresh, and mysqladmin flush-xxx commands, as well as mysqladmin processlist . No privileges are granted for accessing any databases. You could add such privileges using GRANT statements.

  • The 'dummy'@'localhost' account has no password (which is insecure and not recommended). This account can be used only to connect from the local host. No privileges are granted. It is assumed that you will grant specific privileges to the account using GRANT statements.

The previous example grants privileges at the global level. The next example creates three accounts and grants them access at lower levels; that is, to specific databases or objects within databases. Each account has a user name of custom, but the host name parts differ:

CREATE USER 'custom'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL
  ON bankaccount.*
  TO 'custom'@'localhost';

CREATE USER 'custom'@'host47.example.com'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
  ON expenses.*
  TO 'custom'@'host47.example.com';

CREATE USER 'custom'@'%.example.com'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
  ON customer.addresses
  TO 'custom'@'%.example.com';

The three accounts can be used as follows:

  • The 'custom'@'localhost' account has all database-level privileges to access the bankaccount database. The account can be used to connect to the server only from the local host.

  • The 'custom'@'host47.example.com' account has specific database-level privileges to access the expenses database. The account can be used to connect to the server only from the host host47.example.com.

  • The 'custom'@'%.example.com' account has specific table-level privileges to access the addresses table in the customer database, from any host in the example.com domain. The account can be used to connect to the server from all machines in the domain due to use of the % wildcard character in the host part of the account name.

Checking Account Privileges and Properties

To see the privileges for an account, use SHOW GRANTS:

mysql> SHOW GRANTS FOR 'admin'@'localhost';
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Grants for admin@localhost                          |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| GRANT RELOAD, PROCESS ON *.* TO 'admin'@'localhost' |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

To see nonprivilege properties for an account, use SHOW CREATE USER:

mysql> SHOW CREATE USER 'admin'@'localhost'\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
CREATE USER for admin@localhost: CREATE USER 'admin'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED WITH 'mysql_native_password'
AS '*67ACDEBDAB923990001F0FFB017EB8ED41861105'
REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK

Revoking Account Privileges

To revoke account privileges, use the REVOKE statement. Privileges can be revoked at different levels, just as they can be granted at different levels.

Revoke global privileges:

REVOKE ALL
  ON *.*
  FROM 'finley'@'%.example.com';

REVOKE RELOAD
  ON *.*
  FROM 'admin'@'localhost';

Revoke database-level privileges:

REVOKE CREATE,DROP
  ON expenses.*
  FROM 'custom'@'host47.example.com';

Revoke table-level privileges:

REVOKE INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE
  ON customer.addresses
  FROM 'custom'@'%.example.com';

To check the effect of privilege revocation, use SHOW GRANTS:

mysql> SHOW GRANTS FOR 'admin'@'localhost';
+---------------------------------------------+
| Grants for admin@localhost                  |
+---------------------------------------------+
| GRANT PROCESS ON *.* TO 'admin'@'localhost' |
+---------------------------------------------+

Dropping Accounts

To remove an account, use the DROP USER statement. For example, to drop some of the accounts created previously:

DROP USER 'finley'@'localhost';
DROP USER 'finley'@'%.example.com';
DROP USER 'admin'@'localhost';
DROP USER 'dummy'@'localhost';

6.2.8 Reserved Accounts

One part of the MySQL installation process is data directory initialization (see Section 2.10.1, “Initializing the Data Directory”). During data directory initialization, MySQL creates user accounts that should be considered reserved:

  • 'root'@'localhost: Used for administrative purposes. This account has all privileges and can perform any operation.

    Strictly speaking, this account name is not reserved, in the sense that some installations rename the root account to something else to avoid exposing a highly privileged account with a well-known name.

  • 'mysql.sys'@'localhost': Used as the DEFINER for sys schema objects. Use of the mysql.sys account avoids problems that occur if a DBA renames or removes the root account. This account is locked so that it cannot be used for client connections.

  • 'mysql.session'@'localhost': Used internally by plugins to access the server. This account is locked so that it cannot be used for client connections.

6.2.9 When Privilege Changes Take Effect

If the mysqld server is started without the --skip-grant-tables option, it reads all grant table contents into memory during its startup sequence. The in-memory tables become effective for access control at that point.

If you modify the grant tables indirectly using an account-management statement, the server notices these changes and loads the grant tables into memory again immediately. Account-management statements are described in Section 13.7.1, “Account Management Statements”. Examples include GRANT, REVOKE, SET PASSWORD, and RENAME USER.

If you modify the grant tables directly using statements such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE (which is not recommended), the changes have no effect on privilege checking until you either tell the server to reload the tables or restart it. Thus, if you change the grant tables directly but forget to reload them, the changes have no effect until you restart the server. This may leave you wondering why your changes seem to make no difference!

To tell the server to reload the grant tables, perform a flush-privileges operation. This can be done by issuing a FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement or by executing a mysqladmin flush-privileges or mysqladmin reload command.

A grant table reload affects privileges for each existing client session as follows:

  • Table and column privilege changes take effect with the client's next request.

  • Database privilege changes take effect the next time the client executes a USE db_name statement.

    Note

    Client applications may cache the database name; thus, this effect may not be visible to them without actually changing to a different database.

  • Global privileges and passwords are unaffected for a connected client. These changes take effect only in sessions for subsequent connections.

If the server is started with the --skip-grant-tables option, it does not read the grant tables or implement any access control. Any user can connect and perform any operation, which is insecure. To cause a server thus started to read the tables and enable access checking, flush the privileges.

6.2.10 Assigning Account Passwords

Required credentials for clients that connect to the MySQL server can include a password. This section describes how to assign passwords for MySQL accounts.

MySQL stores credentials in the user table in the mysql system database. Operations that assign or modify passwords are permitted only to users with the CREATE USER privilege, or, alternatively, privileges for the mysql database (INSERT privilege to create new accounts, UPDATE privilege to modify existing accounts). If the read_only system variable is enabled, use of account-modification statements such as CREATE USER or ALTER USER additionally requires the SUPER privilege.

The discussion here summarizes syntax only for the most common password-assignment statements. For complete details on other possibilities, see Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”, Section 13.7.1.1, “ALTER USER Statement”, Section 13.7.1.4, “GRANT Statement”, and Section 13.7.1.7, “SET PASSWORD Statement”.

MySQL uses plugins to perform client authentication; see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. In password-assigning statements, the authentication plugin associated with an account performs any hashing required of a cleartext password specified. This enables MySQL to obfuscate passwords prior to storing them in the mysql.user system table. For the statements described here, MySQL automatically hashes the password specified. There are also syntax for CREATE USER and ALTER USER that permits hashed values to be specified literally. For details, see the descriptions of those statements.

To assign a password when you create a new account, use CREATE USER and include an IDENTIFIED BY clause:

CREATE USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

CREATE USER also supports syntax for specifying the account authentication plugin. See Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”.

To assign or change a password for an existing account, use the ALTER USER statement with an IDENTIFIED BY clause:

ALTER USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

If you are not connected as an anonymous user, you can change your own password without naming your own account literally:

ALTER USER USER() IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

To change an account password from the command line, use the mysqladmin command:

mysqladmin -u user_name -h host_name password "password"

The account for which this command sets the password is the one with a row in the mysql.user system table that matches user_name in the User column and the client host from which you connect in the Host column.

Warning

Setting a password using mysqladmin should be considered insecure. On some systems, your password becomes visible to system status programs such as ps that may be invoked by other users to display command lines. MySQL clients typically overwrite the command-line password argument with zeros during their initialization sequence. However, there is still a brief interval during which the value is visible. Also, on some systems this overwriting strategy is ineffective and the password remains visible to ps. (SystemV Unix systems and perhaps others are subject to this problem.)

If you are using MySQL Replication, be aware that, currently, a password used by a replication slave as part of a CHANGE MASTER TO statement is effectively limited to 32 characters in length; if the password is longer, any excess characters are truncated. This is not due to any limit imposed by the MySQL Server generally, but rather is an issue specific to MySQL Replication. (For more information, see Bug #43439.)

6.2.11 Password Management

MySQL enables database administrators to expire account passwords manually, and to establish a policy for automatic password expiration. Expiration policy can be established globally, and individual accounts can be set to either defer to the global policy or override the global policy with specific per-account behavior.

Internal Versus External Credentials Storage

Some authentication plugins store account credentials internally to MySQL, in the mysql.user system table:

  • mysql_native_password

  • sha256_password

The discussion in this section applies to such authentication plugins because the password-management capabilities described here are based on internal credentials storage handled by MySQL itself.

Other authentication plugins store account credentials externally to MySQL. For accounts that use plugins that perform authentication against an external credentials system, password management must be handled externally against that system as well.

For information about individual authentication plugins, see Section 6.4.1, “Authentication Plugins”.

Password Expiration Policy

To expire an account password manually, use the ALTER USER statement:

ALTER USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE;

This operation marks the password expired in the corresponding mysql.user system table row.

Password expiration according to policy is automatic and is based on password age, which for a given account is assessed from the date and time of its most recent password change. The mysql.user system table indicates for each account when its password was last changed, and the server automatically treats the password as expired at client connection time if its age is greater than its permitted lifetime. This works with no explicit manual password expiration.

To establish automatic password-expiration policy globally, use the default_password_lifetime system variable. Its default value is 0, which disables automatic password expiration. If the value of default_password_lifetime is a positive integer N, it indicates the permitted password lifetime, such that passwords must be changed every N days.

Note

Prior to 5.7.11, the default default_password_lifetime value is 360 (passwords must be changed approximately once per year). For such versions, be aware that, if you make no changes to the default_password_lifetime variable or to individual user accounts, each user password expires after 360 days and the account starts running in restricted mode. Clients that connect to the server using the account then get an error indicating that the password must be changed: ERROR 1820 (HY000): You must reset your password using ALTER USER statement before executing this statement.

However, this is easy to miss for clients that automatically connect to the server, such as connections made from scripts. To avoid having such clients suddenly stop working due to a password expiring, make sure to change the password expiration settings for those clients, like this:

ALTER USER 'script'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE NEVER

Alternatively, set the default_password_lifetime variable to 0, thus disabling automatic password expiration for all users.

Examples:

  • To establish a global policy that passwords have a lifetime of approximately six months, start the server with these lines in a server my.cnf file:

    [mysqld]
    default_password_lifetime=180
  • To establish a global policy such that passwords never expire, set default_password_lifetime to 0:

    [mysqld]
    default_password_lifetime=0
  • default_password_lifetime can also be changed at runtime:

    SET GLOBAL default_password_lifetime = 180;
    SET GLOBAL default_password_lifetime = 0;

The global password-expiration policy applies to all accounts that have not been set to override it. To establish policy for individual accounts, use the PASSWORD EXPIRE options of the CREATE USER and ALTER USER statements. See Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”, and Section 13.7.1.1, “ALTER USER Statement”.

Example account-specific statements:

  • Require the password to be changed every 90 days:

    CREATE USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE INTERVAL 90 DAY;
    ALTER USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE INTERVAL 90 DAY;

    This expiration option overrides the global policy for all accounts named by the statement.

  • Disable password expiration:

    CREATE USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE NEVER;
    ALTER USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE NEVER;

    This expiration option overrides the global policy for all accounts named by the statement.

  • Defer to the global expiration policy for all accounts named by the statement:

    CREATE USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT;
    ALTER USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT;

When a client successfully connects, the server determines whether the account password has expired:

  • The server checks whether the password has been manually expired.

  • Otherwise, the server checks whether the password age is greater than its permitted lifetime according to the automatic password expiration policy. If so, the server considers the password expired.

If the password is expired (whether manually or automatically), the server either disconnects the client or restricts the operations permitted to it (see Section 6.2.12, “Server Handling of Expired Passwords”). Operations performed by a restricted client result in an error until the user establishes a new account password:

mysql> SELECT 1;
ERROR 1820 (HY000): You must reset your password using ALTER USER
statement before executing this statement.

mysql> ALTER USER USER() IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> SELECT 1;
+---+
| 1 |
+---+
| 1 |
+---+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

This restricted mode of operation permits SET statements, which is useful before MySQL 5.7.6 if SET PASSWORD must be used instead of ALTER USER and the account password has a hashing format that requires old_passwords to be set to a value different from its default.

After the client resets the password, the server restores normal access for the session, as well as for subsequent connections that use the account. It is also possible for an administrative user to reset the account password, but any existing restricted sessions for that account remain restricted. A client using the account must disconnect and reconnect before statements can be executed successfully.

Note

Although it is possible to reset an expired password by setting it to its current value, it is preferable, as a matter of good policy, to choose a different password.

6.2.12 Server Handling of Expired Passwords

MySQL provides password-expiration capability, which enables database administrators to require that users reset their password. Passwords can be expired manually, and on the basis of a policy for automatic expiration (see Section 6.2.11, “Password Management”).

The ALTER USER statement enables account password expiration. For example:

ALTER USER 'myuser'@'localhost' PASSWORD EXPIRE;

For each connection that uses an account with an expired password, the server either disconnects the client or restricts the client to sandbox mode, in which the server permits the client to perform only those operations necessary to reset the expired password. Which action is taken by the server depends on both client and server settings, as discussed later.

If the server disconnects the client, it returns an ER_MUST_CHANGE_PASSWORD_LOGIN error:

shell> mysql -u myuser -p
Password: ******
ERROR 1862 (HY000): Your password has expired. To log in you must
change it using a client that supports expired passwords.

If the server restricts the client to sandbox mode, these operations are permitted within the client session:

  • The client can reset the account password with ALTER USER or SET PASSWORD. After that has been done, the server restores normal access for the session, as well as for subsequent connections that use the account.

    Note

    Although it is possible to reset an expired password by setting it to its current value, it is preferable, as a matter of good policy, to choose a different password.

  • The client can use the SET statement, which is useful before MySQL 5.7.6 if SET PASSWORD must be used instead of ALTER USER and the account uses an authentication plugin for which the old_passwords system variable must first be set to a nondefault value to perform password hashing in a specific way.

For any operation not permitted within the session, the server returns an ER_MUST_CHANGE_PASSWORD error:

mysql> USE performance_schema;
ERROR 1820 (HY000): You must reset your password using ALTER USER
statement before executing this statement.

mysql> SELECT 1;
ERROR 1820 (HY000): You must reset your password using ALTER USER
statement before executing this statement.

That is what normally happens for interactive invocations of the mysql client because by default such invocations are put in sandbox mode. To resume normal functioning, select a new password.

For noninteractive invocations of the mysql client (for example, in batch mode), the server normally disconnects the client if the password is expired. To permit noninteractive mysql invocations to stay connected so that the password can be changed (using the statements permitted in sandbox mode), add the --connect-expired-password option to the mysql command.

As mentioned previously, whether the server disconnects an expired-password client or restricts it to sandbox mode depends on a combination of client and server settings. The following discussion describes the relevant settings and how they interact.

Note

This discussion applies only for accounts with expired passwords. If a client connects using a nonexpired password, the server handles the client normally.

On the client side, a given client indicates whether it can handle sandbox mode for expired passwords. For clients that use the C client library, there are two ways to do this:

  • Pass the MYSQL_OPT_CAN_HANDLE_EXPIRED_PASSWORDS flag to mysql_options() prior to connecting:

    my_bool arg = 1;
    mysql_options(mysql,
                  MYSQL_OPT_CAN_HANDLE_EXPIRED_PASSWORDS,
                  &arg);

    This is the technique used within the mysql client, which enables MYSQL_OPT_CAN_HANDLE_EXPIRED_PASSWORDS if invoked interactively or with the --connect-expired-password option.

  • Pass the CLIENT_CAN_HANDLE_EXPIRED_PASSWORDS flag to mysql_real_connect() at connect time:

    MYSQL mysql;
    mysql_init(&mysql);
    if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,
                            host, user, password, db,
                            port, unix_socket,
                            CLIENT_CAN_HANDLE_EXPIRED_PASSWORDS))
    {
      ... handle error ...
    }

Other MySQL Connectors have their own conventions for indicating readiness to handle sandbox mode. See the documentation for the Connector in which you are interested.

On the server side, if a client indicates that it can handle expired passwords, the server puts it in sandbox mode.

If a client does not indicate that it can handle expired passwords (or uses an older version of the client library that cannot so indicate), the server action depends on the value of the disconnect_on_expired_password system variable:

6.2.13 Pluggable Authentication

When a client connects to the MySQL server, the server uses the user name provided by the client and the client host to select the appropriate account row from the mysql.user system table. The server then authenticates the client, determining from the account row which authentication plugin applies to the client:

  • If the server cannot find the plugin, an error occurs and the connection attempt is rejected.

  • Otherwise, the server invokes that plugin to authenticate the user, and the plugin returns a status to the server indicating whether the user provided the correct password and is permitted to connect.

Pluggable authentication enables these important capabilities:

  • Choice of authentication methods.  Pluggable authentication makes it easy for DBAs to choose and change the authentication method used for individual MySQL accounts.

  • External authentication.  Pluggable authentication makes it possible for clients to connect to the MySQL server with credentials appropriate for authentication methods that store credentials elsewhere than in the mysql.user system table. For example, plugins can be created to use external authentication methods such as PAM, Windows login IDs, LDAP, or Kerberos.

  • Proxy users:  If a user is permitted to connect, an authentication plugin can return to the server a user name different from the name of the connecting user, to indicate that the connecting user is a proxy for another user (the proxied user). While the connection lasts, the proxy user is treated, for purposes of access control, as having the privileges of the proxied user. In effect, one user impersonates another. For more information, see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

Note

If you start the server with the --skip-grant-tables option, authentication plugins are not used even if loaded because the server performs no client authentication and permits any client to connect. Because this is insecure, you might want to use --skip-grant-tables in conjunction with enabling the skip_networking system variable to prevent remote clients from connecting.

Available Authentication Plugins

MySQL 5.7 provides these authentication plugins:

Note

For information about current restrictions on the use of pluggable authentication, including which connectors support which plugins, see Restrictions on Pluggable Authentication.

Third-party connector developers should read that section to determine the extent to which a connector can take advantage of pluggable authentication capabilities and what steps to take to become more compliant.

If you are interested in writing your own authentication plugins, see Section 28.2.4.9, “Writing Authentication Plugins”.

Authentication Plugin Usage

This section provides general instructions for installing and using authentication plugins. For instructions specific to a given plugin, see the section that describes that plugin under Section 6.4.1, “Authentication Plugins”.

In general, pluggable authentication uses a pair of corresponding plugins on the server and client sides, so you use a given authentication method like this:

  • If necessary, install the plugin library or libraries containing the appropriate plugins. On the server host, install the library containing the server-side plugin, so that the server can use it to authenticate client connections. Similarly, on each client host, install the library containing the client-side plugin for use by client programs. Authentication plugins that are built in need not be installed.

  • For each MySQL account that you create, specify the appropriate server-side plugin to use for authentication. If the account is to use the default authentication plugin, the account-creation statement need not specify the plugin explicitly. The default_authentication_plugin system variable configures the default authentication plugin.

  • When a client connects, the server-side plugin tells the client program which client-side plugin to use for authentication.

In the case that an account uses an authentication method that is the default for both the server and the client program, the server need not communicate to the client which client-side plugin to use, and a round trip in client/server negotiation can be avoided. This is true for accounts that use native MySQL authentication.

For standard MySQL clients such as mysql and mysqladmin, the --default-auth=plugin_name option can be specified on the command line as a hint about which client-side plugin the program can expect to use, although the server will override this if the server-side plugin associated with the user account requires a different client-side plugin.

If the client program does not find the client-side plugin library file, specify a --plugin-dir=dir_name option to indicate the plugin library directory location.

Restrictions on Pluggable Authentication

The first part of this section describes general restrictions on the applicability of the pluggable authentication framework described at Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. The second part describes how third-party connector developers can determine the extent to which a connector can take advantage of pluggable authentication capabilities and what steps to take to become more compliant.

The term native authentication used here refers to authentication against passwords stored in the mysql.user system table. This is the same authentication method provided by older MySQL servers, before pluggable authentication was implemented. Windows native authentication refers to authentication using the credentials of a user who has already logged in to Windows, as implemented by the Windows Native Authentication plugin (Windows plugin for short).

General Pluggable Authentication Restrictions
  • Connector/C++: Clients that use this connector can connect to the server only through accounts that use native authentication.

    Exception: A connector supports pluggable authentication if it was built to link to libmysqlclient dynamically (rather than statically) and it loads the current version of libmysqlclient if that version is installed, or if the connector is recompiled from source to link against the current libmysqlclient.

  • Connector/NET: Clients that use Connector/NET can connect to the server through accounts that use native authentication or Windows native authentication.

  • Connector/PHP: Clients that use this connector can connect to the server only through accounts that use native authentication, when compiled using the MySQL native driver for PHP (mysqlnd).

  • Windows native authentication: Connecting through an account that uses the Windows plugin requires Windows Domain setup. Without it, NTLM authentication is used and then only local connections are possible; that is, the client and server must run on the same computer.

  • Proxy users: Proxy user support is available to the extent that clients can connect through accounts authenticated with plugins that implement proxy user capability (that is, plugins that can return a user name different from that of the connecting user). For example, the PAM and Windows plugins support proxy users. The mysql_native_password and sha256_password authentication plugins do not support proxy users by default, but can be configured to do so; see Server Support for Proxy User Mapping.

  • Replication: Replication slaves can employ not only master accounts using native authentication, but can also connect through master accounts that use nonnative authentication if the required client-side plugin is available. If the plugin is built into libmysqlclient, it is available by default. Otherwise, the plugin must be installed on the slave side in the directory named by the slave plugin_dir system variable.

  • FEDERATED tables: A FEDERATED table can access the remote table only through accounts on the remote server that use native authentication.

Pluggable Authentication and Third-Party Connectors

Third-party connector developers can use the following guidelines to determine readiness of a connector to take advantage of pluggable authentication capabilities and what steps to take to become more compliant:

  • An existing connector to which no changes have been made uses native authentication and clients that use the connector can connect to the server only through accounts that use native authentication. However, you should test the connector against a recent version of the server to verify that such connections still work without problem.

    Exception: A connector might work with pluggable authentication without any changes if it links to libmysqlclient dynamically (rather than statically) and it loads the current version of libmysqlclient if that version is installed.

  • To take advantage of pluggable authentication capabilities, a connector that is libmysqlclient-based should be relinked against the current version of libmysqlclient. This enables the connector to support connections though accounts that require client-side plugins now built into libmysqlclient (such as the cleartext plugin needed for PAM authentication and the Windows plugin needed for Windows native authentication). Linking with a current libmysqlclient also enables the connector to access client-side plugins installed in the default MySQL plugin directory (typically the directory named by the default value of the local server's plugin_dir system variable).

    If a connector links to libmysqlclient dynamically, it must be ensured that the newer version of libmysqlclient is installed on the client host and that the connector loads it at runtime.

  • Another way for a connector to support a given authentication method is to implement it directly in the client/server protocol. Connector/NET uses this approach to provide support for Windows native authentication.

  • If a connector should be able to load client-side plugins from a directory different from the default plugin directory, it must implement some means for client users to specify the directory. Possibilities for this include a command-line option or environment variable from which the connector can obtain the directory name. Standard MySQL client programs such as mysql and mysqladmin implement a --plugin-dir option. See also Section 27.7.13, “C API Client Plugin Functions”.

  • Proxy user support by a connector depends, as described earlier in this section, on whether the authentication methods that it supports permit proxy users.

6.2.14 Proxy Users

The MySQL server authenticates client connections using authentication plugins. The plugin that authenticates a given connection may request that the connecting (external) user be treated as a different user for privilege-checking purposes. This enables the external user to be a proxy for the second user; that is, to assume the privileges of the second user:

  • The external user is a proxy user (a user who can impersonate or become known as another user).

  • The second user is a proxied user (a user whose identity and privileges can be assumed by a proxy user).

This section describes how the proxy user capability works. For general information about authentication plugins, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. For information about specific plugins, see Section 6.4.1, “Authentication Plugins”. For information about writing authentication plugins that support proxy users, see Section 28.2.4.9.4, “Implementing Proxy User Support in Authentication Plugins”.

Requirements for Proxy User Support

For proxying to occur for a given authentication plugin, these conditions must be satisfied:

  • Proxying must be supported, either by the plugin itself, or by the MySQL server on behalf of the plugin. In the latter case, server support may need to be enabled explicitly; see Server Support for Proxy User Mapping.

  • The account for the external proxy user must be set up to be authenticated by the plugin. Use the CREATE USER statement to associate an account with an authentication plugin, or ALTER USER to change its plugin.

  • The account for the proxied user must exist and be granted the privileges to be assumed by the proxy user. Use the CREATE USER and GRANT statements for this.

  • Normally, the proxied user is configured so that it can be used only in proxying scenaries and not for direct logins.

  • The proxy user account must have the PROXY privilege for the proxied account. Use the GRANT statement for this.

  • For a client connecting to the proxy account to be treated as a proxy user, the authentication plugin must return a user name different from the client user name, to indicate the user name of the proxied account that defines the privileges to be assumed by the proxy user.

    Alternatively, for plugins that are provided proxy mapping by the server, the proxied user is determined from the PROXY privilege held by the proxy user.

The proxy mechanism permits mapping only the external client user name to the proxied user name. There is no provision for mapping host names:

  • When a client connects to the server, the server determines the proper account based on the user name passed by the client program and the host from which the client connects.

  • If that account is a proxy account, the server attempts to determine the appropriate proxied account by finding a match for a proxied account using the user name returned by the authentication plugin and the host name of the proxy account. The host name in the proxied account is ignored.

Simple Proxy User Example

Consider the following account definitions:

-- create proxy account
CREATE USER 'employee_ext'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH my_auth_plugin
  AS 'my_auth_string';

-- create proxied account and grant its privileges;
-- use mysql_no_login plugin to prevent direct login
CREATE USER 'employee'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
GRANT ALL
  ON employees.*
  TO 'employee'@'localhost';

-- grant to proxy account the
-- PROXY privilege for proxied account
GRANT PROXY
  ON 'employee'@'localhost'
  TO 'employee_ext'@'localhost';

When a client connects as employee_ext from the local host, MySQL uses the plugin named my_auth_plugin to perform authentication. Suppose that my_auth_plugin returns a user name of employee to the server, based on the content of 'my_auth_string' and perhaps by consulting some external authentication system. The name employee differs from employee_ext, so returning employee serves as a request to the server to treat the employee_ext external user, for purposes of privilege checking, as the employee local user.

In this case, employee_ext is the proxy user and employee is the proxied user.

The server verifies that proxy authentication for employee is possible for the employee_ext user by checking whether employee_ext (the proxy user) has the PROXY privilege for employee (the proxied user). If this privilege has not been granted, an error occurs. Otherwise, employee_ext assumes the privileges of employee. The server checks statements executed during the client session by employee_ext against the privileges granted to employee. In this case, employee_ext can access tables in the employees database.

The proxied account, employee, uses the mysql_no_login authentication plugin to prevent clients from using the account to log in directly. (This assumes that the plugin is installed. For instructions, see Section 6.4.1.10, “No-Login Pluggable Authentication”.) For alternative methods of protecting proxied accounts against direct use, see Preventing Direct Login to Proxied Accounts.

When proxying occurs, the USER() and CURRENT_USER() functions can be used to see the difference between the connecting user (the proxy user) and the account whose privileges apply during the current session (the proxied user). For the example just described, those functions return these values:

mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER();
+------------------------+--------------------+
| USER()                 | CURRENT_USER()     |
+------------------------+--------------------+
| employee_ext@localhost | employee@localhost |
+------------------------+--------------------+

In the CREATE USER statement that creates the proxy user account, the IDENTIFIED WITH clause that names the proxy-supporting authentication plugin is optionally followed by an AS 'auth_string' clause specifying a string that the server passes to the plugin when the user connects. If present, the string provides information that helps the plugin determine how to map the proxy (external) client user name to a proxied user name. It is up to each plugin whether it requires the AS clause. If so, the format of the authentication string depends on how the plugin intends to use it. Consult the documentation for a given plugin for information about the authentication string values it accepts.

Preventing Direct Login to Proxied Accounts

Proxied accounts generally are intended to be used only by means of proxy accounts. That is, clients connect using a proxy account, then are mapped onto and assume the privileges of the appropriate proxied user.

There are multiple ways to ensure that a proxied account cannot be used directly:

  • Associate the account with the mysql_no_login authentication plugin. In this case, the account cannot be used for direct logins under any circumstances. This assumes that the plugin is installed. For instructions, see Section 6.4.1.10, “No-Login Pluggable Authentication”.

  • Include the ACCOUNT LOCK option when you create the account. See Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”. With this method, also include a password so that if the account is unlocked later, it cannot be accessed with no password. (If the validate_password plugin is enabled, it will not permit creating an account without a password, even if the account is locked. See Section 6.4.3, “The Password Validation Plugin”.)

  • Create the account with a password but do not tell anyone else the password. If you do not let anyone know the password for the account, clients cannot use it to connect directly to the MySQL server.

Granting and Revoking the PROXY Privilege

The PROXY privilege is needed to enable an external user to connect as and have the privileges of another user. To grant this privilege, use the GRANT statement. For example:

GRANT PROXY ON 'proxied_user' TO 'proxy_user';

The statement creates a row in the mysql.proxies_priv grant table.

At connect time, proxy_user must represent a valid externally authenticated MySQL user, and proxied_user must represent a valid locally authenticated user. Otherwise, the connection attempt fails.

The corresponding REVOKE syntax is:

REVOKE PROXY ON 'proxied_user' FROM 'proxy_user';

MySQL GRANT and REVOKE syntax extensions work as usual. Examples:

-- grant PROXY to multiple accounts
GRANT PROXY ON 'a' TO 'b', 'c', 'd';

-- revoke PROXY from multiple accounts
REVOKE PROXY ON 'a' FROM 'b', 'c', 'd';

-- grant PROXY to an account and enable the account to grant
-- PROXY to the proxied account
GRANT PROXY ON 'a' TO 'd' WITH GRANT OPTION;

-- grant PROXY to default proxy account
GRANT PROXY ON 'a' TO ''@'';

The PROXY privilege can be granted in these cases:

  • By a user that has GRANT PROXY ... WITH GRANT OPTION for proxied_user.

  • By proxied_user for itself: The value of USER() must exactly match CURRENT_USER() and proxied_user, for both the user name and host name parts of the account name.

The initial root account created during MySQL installation has the PROXY ... WITH GRANT OPTION privilege for ''@'', that is, for all users and all hosts. This enables root to set up proxy users, as well as to delegate to other accounts the authority to set up proxy users. For example, root can do this:

CREATE USER 'admin'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'admin_password';
GRANT PROXY
  ON ''@''
  TO 'admin'@'localhost'
  WITH GRANT OPTION;

Those statements create an admin user that can manage all GRANT PROXY mappings. For example, admin can do this:

GRANT PROXY ON sally TO joe;

Default Proxy Users

To specify that some or all users should connect using a given authentication plugin, create a blank MySQL account with an empty user name and host name (''@''), associate it with that plugin, and let the plugin return the real authenticated user name (if different from the blank user). Suppose that there exists a plugin named ldap_auth that implements LDAP authentication and maps connecting users onto either a developer or manager account. To set up proxying of users onto these accounts, use the following statements:

-- create default proxy account
CREATE USER ''@''
  IDENTIFIED WITH ldap_auth
  AS 'O=Oracle, OU=MySQL';

-- create proxied accounts; use 
-- mysql_no_login plugin to prevent direct login
CREATE USER 'developer'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
CREATE USER 'manager'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;

-- grant to default proxy account the
-- PROXY privilege for proxied accounts
GRANT PROXY
  ON 'manager'@'localhost'
  TO ''@'';
GRANT PROXY
  ON 'developer'@'localhost'
  TO ''@'';

Now assume that a client connects as follows:

shell> mysql --user=myuser --password ...
Enter password: myuser_password

The server will not find myuser defined as a MySQL user. But because there is a blank user account (''@'') that matches the client user name and host name, the server authenticates the client against that account: The server invokes the ldap_auth authentication plugin and passes myuser and myuser_password to it as the user name and password.

If the ldap_auth plugin finds in the LDAP directory that myuser_password is not the correct password for myuser, authentication fails and the server rejects the connection.

If the password is correct and ldap_auth finds that myuser is a developer, it returns the user name developer to the MySQL server, rather than myuser. Returning a user name different from the client user name of myuser signals to the server that it should treat myuser as a proxy. The server verifies that ''@'' can authenticate as developer (because ''@'' has the PROXY privilege to do so) and accepts the connection. The session proceeds with myuser having the privileges of the developer proxied user. (These privileges should be set up by the DBA using GRANT statements, not shown.) The USER() and CURRENT_USER() functions return these values:

mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER();
+------------------+---------------------+
| USER()           | CURRENT_USER()      |
+------------------+---------------------+
| myuser@localhost | developer@localhost |
+------------------+---------------------+

If the plugin instead finds in the LDAP directory that myuser is a manager, it returns manager as the user name and the session proceeds with myuser having the privileges of the manager proxied user.

mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER();
+------------------+-------------------+
| USER()           | CURRENT_USER()    |
+------------------+-------------------+
| myuser@localhost | manager@localhost |
+------------------+-------------------+

For simplicity, external authentication cannot be multilevel: Neither the credentials for developer nor those for manager are taken into account in the preceding example. However, they are still used if a client tries to connect and authenticate directly as the developer or manager account, which is why those proxied accounts should be protected against direct login (see Preventing Direct Login to Proxied Accounts).

Default Proxy User and Anonymous User Conflicts

If you intend to create a default proxy user, check for other existing match any user accounts that take precedence over the default proxy user because they can prevent that user from working as intended.

In the preceding discussion, the default proxy user account has '' in the host part, which matches any host. If you set up a default proxy user, take care to also check whether nonproxy accounts exist with the same user part and '%' in the host part, because '%' also matches any host, but has precedence over '' by the rules that the server uses to sort account rows internally (see Section 6.2.5, “Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification”).

Suppose that a MySQL installation includes these two accounts:

-- create default proxy account
CREATE USER ''@''
  IDENTIFIED WITH some_plugin
  AS 'some_auth_string';
-- create anonymous account
CREATE USER ''@'%'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'anon_user_password';

The first account (''@'') is intended as the default proxy user, used to authenticate connections for users who do not otherwise match a more-specific account. The second account (''@'%') is an anonymous-user account, which might have been created, for example, to enable users without their own account to connect anonymously.

Both accounts have the same user part (''), which matches any user. And each account has a host part that matches any host. Nevertheless, there is a priority in account matching for connection attempts because the matching rules sort a host of '%' ahead of ''. For accounts that do not match any more-specific account, the server attempts to authenticate them against ''@'%' (the anonymous user) rather than ''@'' (the default proxy user). As a result, the default proxy account is never used.

To avoid this problem, use one of the following strategies:

  • Remove the anonymous account so that it does not conflict with the default proxy user.

  • Use a more-specific default proxy user that matches ahead of the anonymous user. For example, to permit only localhost proxy connections, use ''@'localhost':

    CREATE USER ''@'localhost'
      IDENTIFIED WITH some_plugin
      AS 'some_auth_string';
    

    In addition, modify any GRANT PROXY statements to name ''@'localhost' rather than ''@'' as the proxy user.

    Be aware that this strategy prevents anonymous-user connections from localhost.

  • Use a named default account rather than an anonymous default account. For an example of this technique, consult the instructions for using the authentication_windows plugin. See Section 6.4.1.8, “Windows Pluggable Authentication”.

  • Create multiple proxy users, one for local connections and one for everything else (remote connections). This can be useful particularly when local users should have different privileges from remote users.

    Create the proxy users:

    -- create proxy user for local connections
    CREATE USER ''@'localhost'
      IDENTIFIED WITH some_plugin
      AS 'some_auth_string';
    -- create proxy user for remote connections
    CREATE USER ''@'%'
      IDENTIFIED WITH some_plugin
      AS 'some_auth_string';
    

    Create the proxied users:

    -- create proxied user for local connections
    CREATE USER 'developer'@'localhost'
      IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
    -- create proxied user for remote connections
    CREATE USER 'developer'@'%'
      IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;

    Grant to each proxy account the PROXY privilege for the corresponding proxied account:

    GRANT PROXY
      ON 'developer'@'localhost'
      TO ''@'localhost';
    GRANT PROXY
      ON 'developer'@'%'
      TO ''@'%';

    Finally, grant appropriate privileges to the local and remote proxied users (not shown).

    Assume that the some_plugin/'some_auth_string' combination causes some_plugin to map the client user name to developer. Local connections match the ''@'localhost' proxy user, which maps to the 'developer'@'localhost' proxied user. Remote connections match the ''@'%' proxy user, which maps to the 'developer'@'%' proxied user.

Server Support for Proxy User Mapping

Some authentication plugins implement proxy user mapping for themselves (for example, the PAM and Windows authentication plugins). Other authentication plugins do not support proxy users by default. Of these, some can request that the MySQL server itself map proxy users according to granted proxy privileges: mysql_native_password, sha256_password. If the check_proxy_users system variable is enabled, the server performs proxy user mapping for any authentication plugins that make such a request:

  • By default, check_proxy_users is disabled, so the server performs no proxy user mapping even for authentication plugins that request server support for proxy users.

  • If check_proxy_users is enabled, it may also be necessary to enable a plugin-specific system variable to take advantage of server proxy user mapping support:

Proxy user mapping performed by the server is subject to these restrictions:

  • The server will not proxy to or from an anonymous user, even if the associated PROXY privilege is granted.

  • When a single account has been granted proxy privileges for more than one proxied account, server proxy user mapping is nondeterministic. Therefore, granting to a single account proxy privileges for multiple proxied accounts is discouraged.

Proxy User System Variables

Two system variables help trace the proxy login process:

  • proxy_user: This value is NULL if proxying is not used. Otherwise, it indicates the proxy user account. For example, if a client authenticates through the ''@'' proxy account, this variable is set as follows:

    mysql> SELECT @@proxy_user;
    +--------------+
    | @@proxy_user |
    +--------------+
    | ''@''        |
    +--------------+
    
  • external_user: Sometimes the authentication plugin may use an external user to authenticate to the MySQL server. For example, when using Windows native authentication, a plugin that authenticates using the windows API does not need the login ID passed to it. However, it still uses a Windows user ID to authenticate. The plugin may return this external user ID (or the first 512 UTF-8 bytes of it) to the server using the external_user read-only session variable. If the plugin does not set this variable, its value is NULL.

6.2.15 Account Locking

MySQL supports locking and unlocking user accounts using the ACCOUNT LOCK and ACCOUNT UNLOCK clauses for the CREATE USER and ALTER USER statements:

  • When used with CREATE USER, these clauses specify the initial locking state for a new account. In the absence of either clause, the account is created in an unlocked state.

    If the validate_password plugin is enabled, it will not permit creating an account without a password, even if the account is locked. See Section 6.4.3, “The Password Validation Plugin”.

  • When used with ALTER USER, these clauses specify the new locking state for an existing account. In the absence of either clause, the account locking state remains unchanged.

Account locking state is recorded in the account_locked column of the mysql.user system table. The output from SHOW CREATE USER indicates whether an account is locked or unlocked.

If a client attempts to connect to a locked account, the attempt fails. The server increments the Locked_connects status variable that indicates the number of attempts to connect to a locked account, returns an ER_ACCOUNT_HAS_BEEN_LOCKED error, and writes a message to the error log:

Access denied for user 'user_name'@'host_name'.
Account is locked.

Locking an account does not affect being able to connect using a proxy user that assumes the identity of the locked account. It also does not affect the ability to execute stored programs or views that have a DEFINER clause naming the locked account. That is, the ability to use a proxied account or stored programs or views is not affected by locking the account.

The account-locking capability depends on the presence of the account_locked column in the mysql.user system table. For upgrades from MySQL versions older than 5.7.6, perform the MySQL upgrade procedure to ensure that this column exists. See Section 2.11, “Upgrading MySQL”. For nonupgraded installations that have no account_locked column, the server treats all accounts as unlocked, and using the ACCOUNT LOCK or ACCOUNT UNLOCK clauses produces an error.

6.2.16 Setting Account Resource Limits

One means of restricting client use of MySQL server resources is to set the global max_user_connections system variable to a nonzero value. This limits the number of simultaneous connections that can be made by any given account, but places no limits on what a client can do once connected. In addition, setting max_user_connections does not enable management of individual accounts. Both types of control are of interest to MySQL administrators.

To address such concerns, MySQL permits limits for individual accounts on use of these server resources:

  • The number of queries an account can issue per hour

  • The number of updates an account can issue per hour

  • The number of times an account can connect to the server per hour

  • The number of simultaneous connections to the server by an account

Any statement that a client can issue counts against the query limit, unless its results are served from the query cache. Only statements that modify databases or tables count against the update limit.

An account in this context corresponds to a row in the mysql.user system table. That is, a connection is assessed against the User and Host values in the user table row that applies to the connection. For example, an account 'usera'@'%.example.com' corresponds to a row in the user table that has User and Host values of usera and %.example.com, to permit usera to connect from any host in the example.com domain. In this case, the server applies resource limits in this row collectively to all connections by usera from any host in the example.com domain because all such connections use the same account.

Before MySQL 5.0, an account was assessed against the actual host from which a user connects. This older method of accounting may be selected by starting the server with the --old-style-user-limits option. In this case, if usera connects simultaneously from host1.example.com and host2.example.com, the server applies the account resource limits separately to each connection. If usera connects again from host1.example.com, the server applies the limits for that connection together with the existing connection from that host.

To establish resource limits for an account at account-creation time, use the CREATE USER statement. To modify the limits for an existing account, use ALTER USER. Provide a WITH clause that names each resource to be limited. The default value for each limit is zero (no limit). For example, to create a new account that can access the customer database, but only in a limited fashion, issue these statements:

mysql> CREATE USER 'francis'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'frank'
    ->     WITH MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR 20
    ->          MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR 10
    ->          MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR 5
    ->          MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS 2;

The limit types need not all be named in the WITH clause, but those named can be present in any order. The value for each per-hour limit should be an integer representing a count per hour. For MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS, the limit is an integer representing the maximum number of simultaneous connections by the account. If this limit is set to zero, the global max_user_connections system variable value determines the number of simultaneous connections. If max_user_connections is also zero, there is no limit for the account.

To modify limits for an existing account, use an ALTER USER statement. The following statement changes the query limit for francis to 100:

mysql> ALTER USER 'francis'@'localhost' WITH MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR 100;

The statement modifies only the limit value specified and leaves the account otherwise unchanged.

To remove a limit, set its value to zero. For example, to remove the limit on how many times per hour francis can connect, use this statement:

mysql> ALTER USER 'francis'@'localhost' WITH MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR 0;

As mentioned previously, the simultaneous-connection limit for an account is determined from the MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS limit and the max_user_connections system variable. Suppose that the global max_user_connections value is 10 and three accounts have individual resource limits specified as follows:

ALTER USER 'user1'@'localhost' WITH MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS 0;
ALTER USER 'user2'@'localhost' WITH MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS 5;
ALTER USER 'user3'@'localhost' WITH MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS 20;

user1 has a connection limit of 10 (the global max_user_connections value) because it has a MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS limit of zero. user2 and user3 have connection limits of 5 and 20, respectively, because they have nonzero MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS limits.

The server stores resource limits for an account in the user table row corresponding to the account. The max_questions, max_updates, and max_connections columns store the per-hour limits, and the max_user_connections column stores the MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS limit. (See Section 6.2.3, “Grant Tables”.)

Resource-use counting takes place when any account has a nonzero limit placed on its use of any of the resources.

As the server runs, it counts the number of times each account uses resources. If an account reaches its limit on number of connections within the last hour, the server rejects further connections for the account until that hour is up. Similarly, if the account reaches its limit on the number of queries or updates, the server rejects further queries or updates until the hour is up. In all such cases, the server issues appropriate error messages.

Resource counting occurs per account, not per client. For example, if your account has a query limit of 50, you cannot increase your limit to 100 by making two simultaneous client connections to the server. Queries issued on both connections are counted together.

The current per-hour resource-use counts can be reset globally for all accounts, or individually for a given account:

  • To reset the current counts to zero for all accounts, issue a FLUSH USER_RESOURCES statement. The counts also can be reset by reloading the grant tables (for example, with a FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement or a mysqladmin reload command).

  • The counts for an individual account can be reset to zero by setting any of its limits again. Specify a limit value equal to the value currently assigned to the account.

Per-hour counter resets do not affect the MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS limit.

All counts begin at zero when the server starts. Counts do not carry over through server restarts.

For the MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS limit, an edge case can occur if the account currently has open the maximum number of connections permitted to it: A disconnect followed quickly by a connect can result in an error (ER_TOO_MANY_USER_CONNECTIONS or ER_USER_LIMIT_REACHED) if the server has not fully processed the disconnect by the time the connect occurs. When the server finishes disconnect processing, another connection will once more be permitted.

6.2.17 Troubleshooting Problems Connecting to MySQL

If you encounter problems when you try to connect to the MySQL server, the following items describe some courses of action you can take to correct the problem.

  • Make sure that the server is running. If it is not, clients cannot connect to it. For example, if an attempt to connect to the server fails with a message such as one of those following, one cause might be that the server is not running:

    shell> mysql
    ERROR 2003: Can't connect to MySQL server on 'host_name' (111)
    shell> mysql
    ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket
    '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111)
    
  • It might be that the server is running, but you are trying to connect using a TCP/IP port, named pipe, or Unix socket file different from the one on which the server is listening. To correct this when you invoke a client program, specify a --port option to indicate the proper port number, or a --socket option to indicate the proper named pipe or Unix socket file. To find out where the socket file is, you can use this command:

    shell> netstat -ln | grep mysql
    
  • Make sure that the server has not been configured to ignore network connections or (if you are attempting to connect remotely) that it has not been configured to listen only locally on its network interfaces. If the server was started with the skip_networking system variable enabled, it will not accept TCP/IP connections at all. If the server was started with the bind_address system variable set to 127.0.0.1, it will listen for TCP/IP connections only locally on the loopback interface and will not accept remote connections.

  • Check to make sure that there is no firewall blocking access to MySQL. Your firewall may be configured on the basis of the application being executed, or the port number used by MySQL for communication (3306 by default). Under Linux or Unix, check your IP tables (or similar) configuration to ensure that the port has not been blocked. Under Windows, applications such as ZoneAlarm or Windows Firewall may need to be configured not to block the MySQL port.

  • The grant tables must be properly set up so that the server can use them for access control. For some distribution types (such as binary distributions on Windows, or RPM distributions on Linux), the installation process initializes the MySQL data directory, including the mysql system database containing the grant tables. For distributions that do not do this, you must initialize the data directory manually. For details, see Section 2.10, “Postinstallation Setup and Testing”.

    To determine whether you need to initialize the grant tables, look for a mysql directory under the data directory. (The data directory normally is named data or var and is located under your MySQL installation directory.) Make sure that you have a file named user.MYD in the mysql database directory. If not, initialize the data directory. After doing so and starting the server, you should be able to connect to the server.

  • After a fresh installation, if you try to log on to the server as root without using a password, you might get the following error message.

    shell> mysql -u root 
    ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
    

    It means a root password has already been assigned during installation and it has to be supplied. See Section 2.10.4, “Securing the Initial MySQL Account” on the different ways the password could have been assigned and, in some cases, how to find it. If you need to reset the root password, see instructions in Section B.4.3.2, “How to Reset the Root Password”. After you have found or reset your password, log on again as root using the --password (or -p) option:

    shell> mysql -u root -p 
    Enter password: 
    

    However, the server is going to let you connect as root without using a password if you have initialized MySQL using mysqld --initialize-insecure (see Section 2.10.1, “Initializing the Data Directory” for details). That is a security risk, so you should set a password for the root account; see Section 2.10.4, “Securing the Initial MySQL Account” for instructions.

  • If you have updated an existing MySQL installation to a newer version, did you perform the MySQL upgrade procedure? If not, do so. The structure of the grant tables changes occasionally when new capabilities are added, so after an upgrade you should always make sure that your tables have the current structure. For instructions, see Section 2.11, “Upgrading MySQL”.

  • If a client program receives the following error message when it tries to connect, it means that the server expects passwords in a newer format than the client is capable of generating:

    shell> mysql
    Client does not support authentication protocol requested
    by server; consider upgrading MySQL client
    

    For information on how to deal with this, see Section 6.4.1.3, “Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin”.

  • Remember that client programs use connection parameters specified in option files or environment variables. If a client program seems to be sending incorrect default connection parameters when you have not specified them on the command line, check any applicable option files and your environment. For example, if you get Access denied when you run a client without any options, make sure that you have not specified an old password in any of your option files!

    You can suppress the use of option files by a client program by invoking it with the --no-defaults option. For example:

    shell> mysqladmin --no-defaults -u root version
    

    The option files that clients use are listed in Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”. Environment variables are listed in Section 4.9, “Environment Variables”.

  • If you get the following error, it means that you are using an incorrect root password:

    shell> mysqladmin -u root -pxxxx ver
    Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)
    

    If the preceding error occurs even when you have not specified a password, it means that you have an incorrect password listed in some option file. Try the --no-defaults option as described in the previous item.

    For information on changing passwords, see Section 6.2.10, “Assigning Account Passwords”.

    If you have lost or forgotten the root password, see Section B.4.3.2, “How to Reset the Root Password”.

  • localhost is a synonym for your local host name, and is also the default host to which clients try to connect if you specify no host explicitly.

    You can use a --host=127.0.0.1 option to name the server host explicitly. This will make a TCP/IP connection to the local mysqld server. You can also use TCP/IP by specifying a --host option that uses the actual host name of the local host. In this case, the host name must be specified in a user table row on the server host, even though you are running the client program on the same host as the server.

  • The Access denied error message tells you who you are trying to log in as, the client host from which you are trying to connect, and whether you were using a password. Normally, you should have one row in the user table that exactly matches the host name and user name that were given in the error message. For example, if you get an error message that contains using password: NO, it means that you tried to log in without a password.

  • If you get an Access denied error when trying to connect to the database with mysql -u user_name, you may have a problem with the user table. Check this by executing mysql -u root mysql and issuing this SQL statement:

    SELECT * FROM user;

    The result should include a row with the Host and User columns matching your client's host name and your MySQL user name.

  • If the following error occurs when you try to connect from a host other than the one on which the MySQL server is running, it means that there is no row in the user table with a Host value that matches the client host:

    Host ... is not allowed to connect to this MySQL server

    You can fix this by setting up an account for the combination of client host name and user name that you are using when trying to connect.

    If you do not know the IP address or host name of the machine from which you are connecting, you should put a row with '%' as the Host column value in the user table. After trying to connect from the client machine, use a SELECT USER() query to see how you really did connect. Then change the '%' in the user table row to the actual host name that shows up in the log. Otherwise, your system is left insecure because it permits connections from any host for the given user name.

    On Linux, another reason that this error might occur is that you are using a binary MySQL version that is compiled with a different version of the glibc library than the one you are using. In this case, you should either upgrade your operating system or glibc, or download a source distribution of MySQL version and compile it yourself. A source RPM is normally trivial to compile and install, so this is not a big problem.

  • If you specify a host name when trying to connect, but get an error message where the host name is not shown or is an IP address, it means that the MySQL server got an error when trying to resolve the IP address of the client host to a name:

    shell> mysqladmin -u root -pxxxx -h some_hostname ver
    Access denied for user 'root'@'' (using password: YES)
    

    If you try to connect as root and get the following error, it means that you do not have a row in the user table with a User column value of 'root' and that mysqld cannot resolve the host name for your client:

    Access denied for user ''@'unknown'

    These errors indicate a DNS problem. To fix it, execute mysqladmin flush-hosts to reset the internal DNS host cache. See Section 8.12.5.2, “DNS Lookup Optimization and the Host Cache”.

    Some permanent solutions are:

    • Determine what is wrong with your DNS server and fix it.

    • Specify IP addresses rather than host names in the MySQL grant tables.

    • Put an entry for the client machine name in /etc/hosts on Unix or \windows\hosts on Windows.

    • Start mysqld with the skip_name_resolve system variable enabled.

    • Start mysqld with the --skip-host-cache option.

    • On Unix, if you are running the server and the client on the same machine, connect to localhost. For connections to localhost, MySQL programs attempt to connect to the local server by using a Unix socket file, unless there are connection parameters specified to ensure that the client makes a TCP/IP connection. For more information, see Section 4.2.4, “Connecting to the MySQL Server Using Command Options”.

    • On Windows, if you are running the server and the client on the same machine and the server supports named pipe connections, connect to the host name . (period). Connections to . use a named pipe rather than TCP/IP.

  • If mysql -u root works but mysql -h your_hostname -u root results in Access denied (where your_hostname is the actual host name of the local host), you may not have the correct name for your host in the user table. A common problem here is that the Host value in the user table row specifies an unqualified host name, but your system's name resolution routines return a fully qualified domain name (or vice versa). For example, if you have a row with host 'pluto' in the user table, but your DNS tells MySQL that your host name is 'pluto.example.com', the row does not work. Try adding a row to the user table that contains the IP address of your host as the Host column value. (Alternatively, you could add a row to the user table with a Host value that contains a wildcard (for example, 'pluto.%'). However, use of Host values ending with % is insecure and is not recommended!)

  • If mysql -u user_name works but mysql -u user_name some_db does not, you have not granted access to the given user for the database named some_db.

  • If mysql -u user_name works when executed on the server host, but mysql -h host_name -u user_name does not work when executed on a remote client host, you have not enabled access to the server for the given user name from the remote host.

  • If you cannot figure out why you get Access denied, remove from the user table all rows that have Host values containing wildcards (rows that contain '%' or '_' characters). A very common error is to insert a new row with Host='%' and User='some_user', thinking that this enables you to specify localhost to connect from the same machine. The reason that this does not work is that the default privileges include a row with Host='localhost' and User=''. Because that row has a Host value 'localhost' that is more specific than '%', it is used in preference to the new row when connecting from localhost! The correct procedure is to insert a second row with Host='localhost' and User='some_user', or to delete the row with Host='localhost' and User=''. After deleting the row, remember to issue a FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement to reload the grant tables. See also Section 6.2.5, “Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification”.

  • If you are able to connect to the MySQL server, but get an Access denied message whenever you issue a SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE or LOAD DATA statement, your row in the user table does not have the FILE privilege enabled.

  • If you change the grant tables directly (for example, by using INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements) and your changes seem to be ignored, remember that you must execute a FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement or a mysqladmin flush-privileges command to cause the server to reload the privilege tables. Otherwise, your changes have no effect until the next time the server is restarted. Remember that after you change the root password with an UPDATE statement, you will not need to specify the new password until after you flush the privileges, because the server will not know you've changed the password yet!

  • If your privileges seem to have changed in the middle of a session, it may be that a MySQL administrator has changed them. Reloading the grant tables affects new client connections, but it also affects existing connections as indicated in Section 6.2.9, “When Privilege Changes Take Effect”.

  • If you have access problems with a Perl, PHP, Python, or ODBC program, try to connect to the server with mysql -u user_name db_name or mysql -u user_name -ppassword db_name. If you are able to connect using the mysql client, the problem lies with your program, not with the access privileges. (There is no space between -p and the password; you can also use the --password=password syntax to specify the password. If you use the -p or --password option with no password value, MySQL prompts you for the password.)

  • For testing purposes, start the mysqld server with the --skip-grant-tables option. Then you can change the MySQL grant tables and use the SHOW GRANTS statement to check whether your modifications have the desired effect. When you are satisfied with your changes, execute mysqladmin flush-privileges to tell the mysqld server to reload the privileges. This enables you to begin using the new grant table contents without stopping and restarting the server.

  • If everything else fails, start the mysqld server with a debugging option (for example, --debug=d,general,query). This prints host and user information about attempted connections, as well as information about each command issued. See Section 28.5.3, “The DBUG Package”.

  • If you have any other problems with the MySQL grant tables and ask on the MySQL Community Slack, always provide a dump of the MySQL grant tables. You can dump the tables with the mysqldump mysql command. To file a bug report, see the instructions at Section 1.7, “How to Report Bugs or Problems”. In some cases, you may need to restart mysqld with --skip-grant-tables to run mysqldump.

6.2.18 SQL-Based Account Activity Auditing

Applications can use the following guidelines to perform SQL-based auditing that ties database activity to MySQL accounts.

MySQL accounts correspond to rows in the mysql.user system table. When a client connects successfully, the server authenticates the client to a particular row in this table. The User and Host column values in this row uniquely identify the account and correspond to the 'user_name'@'host_name' format in which account names are written in SQL statements.

The account used to authenticate a client determines which privileges the client has. Normally, the CURRENT_USER() function can be invoked to determine which account this is for the client user. Its value is constructed from the User and Host columns of the user table row for the account.

However, there are circumstances under which the CURRENT_USER() value corresponds not to the client user but to a different account. This occurs in contexts when privilege checking is not based the client's account:

  • Stored routines (procedures and functions) defined with the SQL SECURITY DEFINER characteristic

  • Views defined with the SQL SECURITY DEFINER characteristic

  • Triggers and events

In those contexts, privilege checking is done against the DEFINER account and CURRENT_USER() refers to that account, not to the account for the client who invoked the stored routine or view or who caused the trigger to activate. To determine the invoking user, you can call the USER() function, which returns a value indicating the actual user name provided by the client and the host from which the client connected. However, this value does not necessarily correspond directly to an account in the user table, because the USER() value never contains wildcards, whereas account values (as returned by CURRENT_USER()) may contain user name and host name wildcards.

For example, a blank user name matches any user, so an account of ''@'localhost' enables clients to connect as an anonymous user from the local host with any user name. In this case, if a client connects as user1 from the local host, USER() and CURRENT_USER() return different values:

mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER();
+-----------------+----------------+
| USER()          | CURRENT_USER() |
+-----------------+----------------+
| user1@localhost | @localhost     |
+-----------------+----------------+

The host name part of an account can contain wildcards, too. If the host name contains a '%' or '_' pattern character or uses netmask notation, the account can be used for clients connecting from multiple hosts and the CURRENT_USER() value will not indicate which one. For example, the account 'user2'@'%.example.com' can be used by user2 to connect from any host in the example.com domain. If user2 connects from remote.example.com, USER() and CURRENT_USER() return different values:

mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER();
+--------------------------+---------------------+
| USER()                   | CURRENT_USER()      |
+--------------------------+---------------------+
| user2@remote.example.com | user2@%.example.com |
+--------------------------+---------------------+

If an application must invoke USER() for user auditing (for example, if it does auditing from within triggers) but must also be able to associate the USER() value with an account in the user table, it is necessary to avoid accounts that contain wildcards in the User or Host column. Specifically, do not permit User to be empty (which creates an anonymous-user account), and do not permit pattern characters or netmask notation in Host values. All accounts must have a nonempty User value and literal Host value.

With respect to the previous examples, the ''@'localhost' and 'user2'@'%.example.com' accounts should be changed not to use wildcards:

RENAME USER ''@'localhost' TO 'user1'@'localhost';
RENAME USER 'user2'@'%.example.com' TO 'user2'@'remote.example.com';

If user2 must be able to connect from several hosts in the example.com domain, there should be a separate account for each host.

To extract the user name or host name part from a CURRENT_USER() or USER() value, use the SUBSTRING_INDEX() function:

mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(CURRENT_USER(),'@',1);
+---------------------------------------+
| SUBSTRING_INDEX(CURRENT_USER(),'@',1) |
+---------------------------------------+
| user1                                 |
+---------------------------------------+

mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(CURRENT_USER(),'@',-1);
+----------------------------------------+
| SUBSTRING_INDEX(CURRENT_USER(),'@',-1) |
+----------------------------------------+
| localhost                              |
+----------------------------------------+

6.3 Using Encrypted Connections

With an unencrypted connection between the MySQL client and the server, someone with access to the network could watch all your traffic and inspect the data being sent or received between client and server.

When you must move information over a network in a secure fashion, an unencrypted connection is unacceptable. To make any kind of data unreadable, use encryption. Encryption algorithms must include security elements to resist many kinds of known attacks such as changing the order of encrypted messages or replaying data twice.

MySQL supports encrypted connections between clients and the server using the TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol. TLS is sometimes referred to as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) but MySQL does not actually use the SSL protocol for encrypted connections because its encryption is weak (see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”).

TLS uses encryption algorithms to ensure that data received over a public network can be trusted. It has mechanisms to detect data change, loss, or replay. TLS also incorporates algorithms that provide identity verification using the X.509 standard.

X.509 makes it possible to identify someone on the Internet. In basic terms, there should be some entity called a Certificate Authority (or CA) that assigns electronic certificates to anyone who needs them. Certificates rely on asymmetric encryption algorithms that have two encryption keys (a public key and a secret key). A certificate owner can present the certificate to another party as proof of identity. A certificate consists of its owner's public key. Any data encrypted using this public key can be decrypted only using the corresponding secret key, which is held by the owner of the certificate.

MySQL can be compiled for encrypted-connection support using OpenSSL or yaSSL. For a comparison of the two packages, see Section 6.3.4, “SSL Library-Dependent Capabilities” For information about the encryption protocols and ciphers each package supports, see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

Note

It is possible to compile MySQL using yaSSL as an alternative to OpenSSL only prior to MySQL 5.7.28. As of MySQL 5.7.28, support for yaSSL is removed and all MySQL builds use OpenSSL.

By default, MySQL programs attempt to connect using encryption if the server supports encrypted connections, falling back to an unencrypted connection if an encrypted connection cannot be established. For information about options that affect use of encrypted connections, see Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections” and Command Options for Encrypted Connections.

MySQL performs encryption on a per-connection basis, and use of encryption for a given user can be optional or mandatory. This enables you to choose an encrypted or unencrypted connection according to the requirements of individual applications. For information on how to require users to use encrypted connections, see the discussion of the REQUIRE clause of the CREATE USER statement in Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”. See also the description of the require_secure_transport system variable at Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”

Encrypted connections can be used between master and slave replication servers. See Section 16.3.8, “Setting Up Replication to Use Encrypted Connections”.

For information about using encrypted connections from the MySQL C API, see Section 27.7.14, “C API Encrypted Connection Support”.

It is also possible to connect using encryption from within an SSH connection to the MySQL server host. For an example, see Section 6.3.5, “Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH”.

Several improvements were made to encrypted-connection support in MySQL 5.7. The following timeline summarizes the changes:

  • 5.7.3: On the client side, an explicit --ssl option is no longer advisory but prescriptive. Given a server enabled to support encrypted connections, a client program can require an encrypted connection by specifying only the --ssl option. (Previously, it was necessary for the client to specify either the --ssl-ca option, or all three of the --ssl-ca, --ssl-key, and --ssl-cert options.) The connection attempt fails if an encrypted connection cannot be established. Other --ssl-xxx options on the client side are advisory in the absence of --ssl: The client attempts to connect using encryption but falls back to an unencrypted connection if an encrypted connection cannot be established.

  • 5.7.5: The server-side --ssl option value is enabled by default.

    For servers compiled using OpenSSL, the auto_generate_certs and sha256_password_auto_generate_rsa_keys system variables are available to enable autogeneration and autodiscovery of SSL/RSA certificate and key files at startup. For certificate and key autodiscovery, if --ssl is enabled and other --ssl-xxx options are not given to configure encrypted connections explicitly, the server attempts to enable support for encrypted connections automatically at startup if it discovers the requisite certificate and key files in the data directory.

  • 5.7.6: The mysql_ssl_rsa_setup utility is available to make it easier to manually generate SSL/RSA certificate and key files. Autodiscovery of SSL/RSA files at startup is expanded to apply to all servers, whether compiled using OpenSSL or yaSSL. (This means that auto_generate_certs need not be enabled for autodiscovery to occur.)

    If the server discovers at startup that the CA certificate is self-signed, it writes a warning to the error log. (The certificate is self-signed if created automatically by the server, or manually using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup.)

  • 5.7.7: The C client library attempts to establish an encrypted connection by default if the server supports encrypted connections. This affects client programs as follows:

    • In the absence of an --ssl option, clients attempt to connect using encryption, falling back to an unencrypted connection if an encrypted connection cannot be established.

    • The presence of an explicit --ssl option or a synonym (--ssl=1, --enable-ssl) is prescriptive: Clients require an encrypted connection and fail if one cannot be established.

    • With an --ssl=0 option or a synonym (--skip-ssl, --disable-ssl), clients use an unencrypted connection.

    This change also affects subsequent releases of MySQL Connectors that are based on the C client library: Connector/C++ and Connector/ODBC.

  • 5.7.8: The require_secure_transport system variable is available to control whether client connections to the server must use some form of secure transport.

  • 5.7.10: TLS protocol support is extended from TLSv1 to also include TLSv1.1 and TLSv1.2. The tls_version system variable on the server side and --tls-version option on the client side enable the level of support to be selected. See Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

  • 5.7.11: MySQL client programs support an --ssl-mode option that enables you to specify the security state of the connection to the server. The --ssl-mode option comprises the capabilities of the client-side --ssl and --ssl-verify-server-cert options. Consequently, --ssl and --ssl-verify-server-cert are deprecated, and are removed in MySQL 8.0.

  • 5.7.28: Support for yaSSL was removed. All MySQL builds use OpenSSL.

6.3.1 Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections

Several options are available to indicate whether to use encrypted connections, and to specify the appropriate certificate and key files. This section provides general guidance about configuring the server and clients for encrypted connections:

For a complete list of options related to establishment of encrypted connections, see Command Options for Encrypted Connections. Instructions for creating any required certificate and key files are available in Section 6.3.3, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”.

Encrypted connections also can be used in these contexts:

Server-Side Startup Configuration for Encrypted Connections

On the server side, the --ssl option specifies that the server permits but does not require encrypted connections. This option is enabled by default, so it need not be specified explicitly.

To require that clients connect using encrypted connections, enable the require_secure_transport system variable. See Configuring Encrypted Connections as Mandatory.

These options on the server side specify the certificate and key files the server uses when permitting clients to establish encrypted connections:

  • --ssl-ca: The path name of the Certificate Authority (CA) certificate file. (--ssl-capath is similar but specifies the path name of a directory of CA certificate files.)

  • --ssl-cert: The path name of the server public key certificate file. This certificate can be sent to the client and authenticated against the CA certificate that it has.

  • --ssl-key: The path name of the server private key file.

For example, to enable the server for encrypted connections, start it with these lines in the my.cnf file, changing the file names as necessary:

[mysqld]
ssl-ca=ca.pem
ssl-cert=server-cert.pem
ssl-key=server-key.pem

To specify in addition that clients are required to use encrypted connections, enable the require_secure_transport system variable:

[mysqld]
ssl-ca=ca.pem
ssl-cert=server-cert.pem
ssl-key=server-key.pem
require_secure_transport=ON

Each certificate and key option names a file in PEM format. Should you need to create the required certificate and key files, see Section 6.3.3, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”. MySQL servers compiled using OpenSSL can generate missing certificate and key files automatically at startup. See Section 6.3.3.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”. Alternatively, if you have a MySQL source distribution, you can test your setup using the demonstration certificate and key files in its mysql-test/std_data directory.

The server performs certificate and key file autodiscovery. If --ssl is enabled (possibly along with --ssl-cipher) and other --ssl-xxx options are not given to configure encrypted connections explicitly, the server attempts to enable encrypted connection support automatically at startup:

  • If the server discovers valid certificate and key files named ca.pem, server-cert.pem, and server-key.pem in the data directory, it enables support for encrypted connections by clients. (The files need not have been generated automatically; what matters is that they have those names and are valid.)

  • If the server does not find valid certificate and key files in the data directory, it continues executing but without support for encrypted connections.

If the server automatically enables encrypted connection support, it writes a note to the error log. If the server discovers that the CA certificate is self-signed, it writes a warning to the error log. (The certificate is self-signed if created automatically by the server or manually using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup.)

MySQL also provides these options for server-side SSL control:

  • --ssl-cipher: The list of permissible ciphers for connection encryption.

  • --ssl-crl: The path name of the file containing certificate revocation lists. (--ssl-crlpath is similar but specifies the path name of a directory of certificate revocation-list files.)

The values of the --ssl-xxx options set the values of the corresponding system variables (ssl_ca, ssl_cert, ssl_key, and so forth).

To explicitly specify which encryption protocols the server permits, use the tls_version system variable; see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”. For example, you can set this variable to prevent clients from using less-secure protocols.

Client-Side Configuration for Encrypted Connections

By default, MySQL client programs attempt to establish an encrypted connection if the server supports encrypted connections, with further control available through the --ssl-mode option:

  • In the absence of an --ssl-mode option, clients attempt to connect using encryption, falling back to an unencrypted connection if an encrypted connection cannot be established. This is also the behavior with an explicit --ssl-mode=PREFFERED option.

  • With --ssl-mode=REQUIRED, clients require an encrypted connection and fail if one cannot be established.

  • With --ssl-mode=DISABLED, clients use an unencrypted connection.

  • With --ssl-mode=VERIFY_CA or --ssl-mode=VERIFY_IDENTITY, clients require an encrypted connection, and also perform verification against the server CA certificate and (with VERIFY_IDENTITY) against the server host name in its certificate.

Attempts to establish an unencrypted connection fail if the require_secure_transport system variable is enabled on the server side to cause the server to require encrypted connections. See Configuring Encrypted Connections as Mandatory.

The following options on the client side identify the certificate and key files clients use when establishing encrypted connections to the server. They are similar to the options used on the server side, but --ssl-cert and --ssl-key identify the client public and private key:

  • --ssl-ca: The path name of the Certificate Authority (CA) certificate file. This option, if used, must specify the same certificate used by the server. (--ssl-capath is similar but specifies the path name of a directory of CA certificate files.)

  • --ssl-cert: The path name of the client public key certificate file.

  • --ssl-key: The path name of the client private key file.

For additional security relative to that provided by the default encryption, clients can supply a CA certificate matching the one used by the server and enable host name identity verification. In this way, the server and client place their trust in the same CA certificate and the client verifies that the host to which it connected is the one intended:

Note

Host name identity verification with VERIFY_IDENTITY does not work with self-signed certificates that are created automatically by the server or manually using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup (see Section 6.3.3.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”). Such self-signed certificates do not contain the server name as the Common Name value.

Host name identity verification also does not work with certificates that specify the Common Name using wildcards because that name is compared verbatim to the server name.

MySQL also provides these options for client-side SSL control:

Depending on the encryption requirements of the MySQL account used by a client, the client may be required to specify certain options to connect using encryption to the MySQL server.

Suppose that you want to connect using an account that has no special encryption requirements or that was created using a CREATE USER statement that included the REQUIRE SSL clause. Assuming that the server supports encrypted connections, a client can connect using encryption with no --ssl-mode option or with an explicit --ssl-mode=PREFFERED option:

mysql

Or:

mysql --ssl-mode=PREFERRED

For an account created with a REQUIRE SSL clause, the connection attempt fails if an encrypted connection cannot be established. For an account with no special encryption requirements, the attempt falls back to an unencrypted connection if an encrypted connection cannot be established. To prevent fallback and fail if an encrypted connection cannot be obtained, connect like this:

mysql --ssl-mode=REQUIRED

If the account has more stringent security requirements, other options must be specified to establish an encrypted connection:

  • For accounts created with a REQUIRE X509 clause, clients must specify at least --ssl-cert and --ssl-key. In addition, --ssl-ca (or --ssl-capath) is recommended so that the public certificate provided by the server can be verified. For example:

    mysql --ssl-ca=ca.pem \
          --ssl-cert=client-cert.pem \
          --ssl-key=client-key.pem
  • For accounts created with a REQUIRE ISSUER or REQUIRE SUBJECT clause, the encryption requirements are the same as for REQUIRE X509, but the certificate must match the issue or subject, respectively, specified in the account definition.

For additional information about the REQUIRE clause, see Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”.

To prevent use of encryption and override other --ssl-xxx options, invoke the client program with --ssl-mode=DISABLED:

mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED

To determine whether the current connection with the server uses encryption, check the session value of the Ssl_cipher status variable. If the value is empty, the connection is not encrypted. Otherwise, the connection is encrypted and the value indicates the encryption cipher. For example:

mysql> SHOW SESSION STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_cipher';
+---------------+---------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value                     |
+---------------+---------------------------+
| Ssl_cipher    | DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 |
+---------------+---------------------------+

For the mysql client, an alternative is to use the STATUS or \s command and check the SSL line:

mysql> \s
...
SSL: Not in use
...

Or:

mysql> \s
...
SSL: Cipher in use is DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
...

Configuring Encrypted Connections as Mandatory

For some MySQL deployments it may be not only desirable but mandatory to use encrypted connections (for example, to satisfy regulatory requirements). This section discusses configuration settings that enable you to do this. These levels of control are available:

  • You can configure the server to require the clients connect using encrypted connections.

  • You can invoke individual client programs to require an encrypted connection, even if the server permits but does not require encryption.

  • You can configure individual MySQL accounts to be usable only over encrypted connections.

To require that clients connect using encrypted connections, enable the require_secure_transport system variable. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file:

[mysqld]
require_secure_transport=ON

With require_secure_transport enabled, client connections to the server are required to use some form of secure transport, and the server permits only TCP/IP connections that use SSL, or connections that use a socket file (on Unix) or shared memory (on Windows). The server rejects nonsecure connection attempts, which fail with an ER_SECURE_TRANSPORT_REQUIRED error.

To invoke a client program such that it requires an encrypted connection whether or not the server requires encryption, use an --ssl-mode option value of REQUIRED, VERIFY_CA, or VERIFY_IDENTITY. For example:

mysql --ssl-mode=REQUIRED
mysqldump --ssl-mode=VERIFY_CA
mysqladmin --ssl-mode=VERIFY_IDENTITY

To configure a MySQL account to be usable only over encrypted connections, include a REQUIRE clause in the CREATE USER statement that creates the account, specifying in that clause the encryption characteristics you require. For example, to require an encrypted connection and the use of a valid X.509 certificate, use REQUIRE X509:

CREATE USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' REQUIRE X509;

For additional information about the REQUIRE clause, see Section 13.7.1.2, “CREATE USER Statement”.

To modify existing accounts that have no encryption requirements, use the ALTER USER statement.

6.3.2 Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers

MySQL supports multiple TLS protocols and ciphers, and enables configuring which protocols and ciphers to permit for encrypted connections. It is also possible to determine which protocol and cipher the current session uses.

Supported Connection TLS Protocols

MySQL supports encrypted connections using the TLSv1, TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2 protocols, listed in order from less secure to more secure. The set of protocols actually permitted for connections is subject to multiple factors:

  • MySQL configuration. Permitted TLS protocols can be configured on both the server side and client side to include only a subset of the supported TLS protocols. The configuration on both sides must include at least one protocol in common or connection attempts cannot negotiate a protocol to use. For details, see Connection TLS Protocol Negotiation.

  • System-wide host configuration. The host system may permit only certain TLS protocols, which means that MySQL connections cannot use nonpermitted protocols even if MySQL itself permits them:

    • Suppose that MySQL configuration permits TLSv1, TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2, but your host system configuration permits only connections that use TLSv1.2 or higher. In this case, you cannot establish MySQL connections that use TLSv1 or TLSv1.1, even though MySQL is configured to permit them, because the host system does not permit them.

    • If MySQL configuration permits TLSv1, TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2, but your host system configuration permits only connections that use TLSv1.3 or higher, you cannot establish MySQL connections at all, because no protocol permitted by MySQL is permitted by the host system.

    Workarounds for this issue include:

    • Change the system-wide host configuration to permit additional TLS protocols. Consult your operating system documentation for instructions. For example, your system may have an /etc/ssl/openssl.cnf file that contains these lines to restrict TLS protocols to TLSv1.2 or higher:

      [system_default_sect]
      MinProtocol = TLSv1.2

      Changing the value to a lower protocol version or None makes the system more permissive. This workaround has the disadvantage that permitting lower (less secure) protocols may have adverse security consequences.

    • If you cannot or prefer not to change the host system TLS configuration, change MySQL applications to use higher (more secure) TLS protocols that are permitted by the host system. This may not be possible for older versions of MySQL that support only lower protocol versions. For example, TLSv1 is the only supported protocol prior to MySQL 5.6.46, so attempts to connect to a pre-5.6.46 server fail even if the client is from a newer MySQL version that supports higher protocol versions. In such cases, an upgrade to a version of MySQL that supports additional TLS versions may be required.

  • The SSL library. If the SSL library does not support a particular protocol, neither does MySQL, and any parts of the following discussion that specify that protocol do not apply.

    • When compiled using OpenSSL 1.0.1 or higher, MySQL supports the TLSv1, TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2 protocols.

    • When compiled using yaSSL, MySQL supports the TLSv1 and TLSv1.1 protocols.

    Note

    It is possible to compile MySQL using yaSSL as an alternative to OpenSSL only prior to MySQL 5.7.28. As of MySQL 5.7.28, support for yaSSL is removed and all MySQL builds use OpenSSL.

Connection TLS Protocol Configuration

On the server side, the value of the tls_version system variable determines which TLS protocols a MySQL server permits for encrypted connections. The tls_version value applies to connections from clients and from slave servers using regular master/slave replication. The variable value is a list of one or more comma-separated protocol versions from this list (not case-sensitive): TLSv1, TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2. By default, this variable lists all protocols supported by the SSL library used to compile MySQL (TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2 for OpenSSL, TLSv1,TLSv1.1 for yaSSL). To determine the value of tls_version at runtime, use this statement:

mysql> SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'tls_version';
+---------------+-----------------------+
| Variable_name | Value                 |
+---------------+-----------------------+
| tls_version   | TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2 |
+---------------+-----------------------+

To change the value of tls_version, set it at server startup. For example, to permit connections that use the TLSv1.1 or TLSv1.2 protocol, but prohibit connections that use the less-secure TLSv1 protocol, use these lines in the server my.cnf file:

[mysqld]
tls_version=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2

To be even more restrictive and permit only TLSv1.2 connections, set tls_version like this (assuming that your server is compiled using OpenSSL because yaSSL does not support TLSv1.2):

[mysqld]
tls_version=TLSv1.2

On the client side, the --tls-version option specifies which TLS protocols a client program permits for connections to the server. The format of the option value is the same as for the tls_version system variable described previously (a list of one or more comma-separated protocol versions).

For master/slave replication, the MASTER_TLS_VERSION option for the CHANGE MASTER TO statement specifies which TLS protocols a slave server permits for connections to the master. The format of the option value is the same as for the tls_version system variable described previously. See Section 16.3.8, “Setting Up Replication to Use Encrypted Connections”.

The protocols that can be specified for MASTER_TLS_VERSION depend on the SSL library. This option is independent of and not affected by the server tls_version value. For example, a server that acts as a replication slave can be configured with tls_version set to TLSv1.2 to permit only incoming connections that use TLSv1.2, but also configured with MASTER_TLS_VERSION set to TLSv1.1 to permit only TLSv1.1 for outgoing slave connections to the master.

TLS protocol configuration affects which protocol a given connection uses, as described in Connection TLS Protocol Negotiation.

Permitted protocols should be chosen such as not to leave holes in the list. For example, these server configuration values do not have holes:

tls_version=TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2
tls_version=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2
tls_version=TLSv1.2

This value does have a hole and should not be used:

tls_version=TLSv1,TLSv1.2       (TLSv1.1 is missing)

The prohibition on holes also applies in other configuration contexts, such as for clients or replication slaves.

The list of permitted protocols should not be empty. If you set a TLS version parameter to the empty string, encrypted connections cannot be established:

  • tls_version: The server does not permit encrypted incoming connections.

  • --tls-version: The client does not permit encrypted outgoing connections to the server.

  • MASTER_TLS_VERSION: The replication slave does not permit encrypted outgoing connections to the master.

Connection Cipher Configuration

A default set of ciphers applies to encrypted connections, which can be overridden by explicitly configuring the permitted ciphers. During connection establishment, both sides of a connection must permit some cipher in common or the connection fails. Of the permitted ciphers common to both sides, the SSL library chooses the one supported by the provided certificate that has the highest priority.

To specify a cipher or ciphers for encrypted connections, use the --ssl-cipher option, which is available for the server and for client programs.

For master/slave replication, the MASTER_SSL_CIPHER option for the CHANGE MASTER TO statement specifies which ciphers a slave server permits for connections to the master. See Section 16.3.8, “Setting Up Replication to Use Encrypted Connections”.

A given cipher may work only with particular TLS protocols, which affects the TLS protocol negotiation process. See Connection TLS Protocol Negotiation.

To determine which ciphers a given server supports, check the session value of the Ssl_cipher_list status variable:

SHOW SESSION STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_cipher_list';

The Ssl_cipher_list status variable lists the possible SSL ciphers (empty for non-SSL connections). The set of available ciphers depends on your MySQL version and whether MySQL was compiled using OpenSSL or yaSSL, and (for OpenSSL) the library version used to compile MySQL.

MySQL passes a default cipher list to the SSL library.

MySQL passes this default cipher list to OpenSSL:

ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384
DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES256-GCM-SHA384
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
AES128-GCM-SHA256
DH-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
AES256-GCM-SHA384
DH-DSS-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
AES128-SHA256
DH-DSS-AES128-SHA256
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256
AES256-SHA256
DH-DSS-AES256-SHA256
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384
AES128-SHA
DH-DSS-AES128-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
AES256-SHA
DH-DSS-AES256-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
DH-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDH-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
DH-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDH-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
DH-RSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDH-RSA-AES128-SHA256
DH-RSA-AES256-SHA256
ECDH-RSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
AES128-SHA
DH-DSS-AES128-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
AES256-SHA
DH-DSS-AES256-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DH-RSA-AES128-SHA
ECDH-RSA-AES128-SHA
DH-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDH-RSA-AES256-SHA
DES-CBC3-SHA

MySQL passes this default cipher list to yaSSL:

DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
AES128-RMD
DES-CBC3-RMD
DHE-RSA-AES256-RMD
DHE-RSA-AES128-RMD
DHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-RMD
AES256-SHA
RC4-SHA
RC4-MD5
DES-CBC3-SHA
DES-CBC-SHA
EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
EDH-RSA-DES-CBC-SHA
AES128-SHA:AES256-RMD

As of MySQL 5.7.10, these cipher restrictions are in place:

  • The following ciphers are permanently restricted:

    !DHE-DSS-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !DHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDH-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDHE-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
  • The following categories of ciphers are permanently restricted:

    !aNULL
    !eNULL
    !EXPORT
    !LOW
    !MD5
    !DES
    !RC2
    !RC4
    !PSK
    !SSLv3

If the server is started with an --ssl-cert option specifying a certificate that uses any of the preceding restricted ciphers or cipher categories, the server starts with support for encrypted connections disabled.

Connection TLS Protocol Negotiation

Connection attempts in MySQL negotiate use of the highest TLS protocol version available on both sides for which a protocol-compatible encryption cipher is available on both sides. The negotiation process depends on factors such as the SSL library used to compile the server and client, the TLS protocol and encryption cipher configuration, and which key size is used:

  • For a connection attempt to succeed, the server and client TLS protocol configuration must permit some protocol in common.

  • Similarly, the server and client encryption cipher configuration must permit some cipher in common. A given cipher may work only with particular TLS protocols, so a protocol available to the negotiation process is not chosen unless there is also a compatible cipher.

  • If the server and client are compiled using OpenSSL, TLSv1.2 is used if possible. If either or both the server and client are compiled using yaSSL, TLSv1.1 is used if possible. (Possible means that server and client configuration both must permit the indicated protocol, and both must also permit some protocol-compatible encryption cipher.) Otherwise, MySQL continues through the list of available protocols, proceeding from more secure protocols to less secure. Negotiation order is independent of the order in which protocols are configured. For example, negotiation order is the same regardless of whether tls_version has a value of TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2 or TLSv1.2,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.

    Note

    Prior to MySQL 5.7.10, MySQL supports only TLSv1, for both OpenSSL and yaSSL, and no system variable or client option exist for specifying which TLS protocols to permit.

  • TLSv1.2 does not work with all ciphers that have a key size of 512 bits or less. To use this protocol with such a key, use --ssl-cipher to specify the cipher name explicitly:

    AES128-SHA
    AES128-SHA256
    AES256-SHA
    AES256-SHA256
    CAMELLIA128-SHA
    CAMELLIA256-SHA
    DES-CBC3-SHA
    DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
    RC4-MD5
    RC4-SHA
    SEED-SHA
  • For better security, use a certificate with an RSA key size of at least 2048 bits.

If the server and client do not have a permitted protocol in common, and a protocol-compatible cipher in common, the server terminates the connection request. Examples:

  • If the server is configured with tls_version=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2:

    • Connection attempts fail for clients invoked with --tls-version=TLSv1, and for older clients that support only TLSv1.

    • Similarly, connection attempts fail for replication slaves configured with MASTER_TLS_VERSION = 'TLSv1', and for older slaves that support only TLSv1.

  • If the server is configured with tls_version=TLSv1 or is an older server that supports only TLSv1:

    • Connection attempts fail for clients invoked with --tls-version=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2.

    • Similarly, connection attempts fail for replication slaves configured with MASTER_TLS_VERSION = 'TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2'.

MySQL permits specifying a list of protocols to support. This list is passed directly down to the underlying SSL library and is ultimately up to that library what protocols it actually enables from the supplied list. Please refer to the MySQL source code and the OpenSSL SSL_CTX_new() documentation for information about how the SSL library handles this.

Monitoring Current Session TLS Protocol and Cipher

To determine which encryption TLS protocol and cipher the current session uses, check the session values of the Ssl_version and Ssl_cipher status variables:

mysql> SELECT * FROM performance_schema.session_status
       WHERE VARIABLE_NAME IN ('Ssl_version','Ssl_cipher');
+---------------+---------------------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME | VARIABLE_VALUE            |
+---------------+---------------------------+
| Ssl_cipher    | DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 |
| Ssl_version   | TLSv1.2                   |
+---------------+---------------------------+

If the connection is not encrypted, both variables have an empty value.

6.3.3 Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys

The following discussion describes how to create the files required for SSL and RSA support in MySQL. File creation can be performed using facilities provided by MySQL itself, or by invoking the openssl command directly.

SSL certificate and key files enable MySQL to support encrypted connections using SSL. See Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”.

RSA key files enable MySQL to support secure password exchange over unencrypted connections for accounts authenticated by the sha256_password plugin. See Section 6.4.1.5, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”.

6.3.3.1 Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL

MySQL provides these ways to create the SSL certificate and key files and RSA key-pair files required to support encrypted connections using SSL and secure password exchange using RSA over unencrypted connections, if those files are missing:

  • The server can autogenerate these files at startup, for MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL.

  • Users can invoke the mysql_ssl_rsa_setup utility manually.

  • For some distribution types, such as RPM packages, mysql_ssl_rsa_setup invocation occurs during data directory initialization. In this case, the MySQL distribution need not have been compiled using OpenSSL as long as the openssl command is available.

Important

Server autogeneration and mysql_ssl_rsa_setup help lower the barrier to using SSL by making it easier to generate the required files. However, certificates generated by these methods are self-signed, which may not be very secure. After you gain experience using such files, consider obtaining certificate/key material from a registered certificate authority.

Automatic SSL and RSA File Generation

For MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL, the MySQL server has the capability of automatically generating missing SSL and RSA files at startup. The auto_generate_certs and sha256_password_auto_generate_rsa_keys system variables control automatic generation of these files. These variables are enabled by default. They can be enabled at startup and inspected but not set at runtime.

At startup, the server automatically generates server-side and client-side SSL certificate and key files in the data directory if the auto_generate_certs system variable is enabled, no SSL options other than --ssl are specified, and the server-side SSL files are missing from the data directory. These files enable encrypted client connections using SSL; see Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”.

  1. The server checks the data directory for SSL files with the following names:

    ca.pem
    server-cert.pem
    server-key.pem
  2. If any of those files are present, the server creates no SSL files. Otherwise, it creates them, plus some additional files:

    ca.pem               Self-signed CA certificate
    ca-key.pem           CA private key
    server-cert.pem      Server certificate
    server-key.pem       Server private key
    client-cert.pem      Client certificate
    client-key.pem       Client private key
  3. If the server autogenerates SSL files, it uses the names of the ca.pem, server-cert.pem, and server-key.pem files to set the corresponding system variables (ssl_ca, ssl_cert, ssl_key).

At startup, the server automatically generates RSA private/public key-pair files in the data directory if all of these conditions are true: The sha256_password_auto_generate_rsa_keys system variable is enabled; no RSA options are specified; the RSA files are missing from the data directory. These key-pair files enable secure password exchange using RSA over unencrypted connections for accounts authenticated by the sha256_password plugin; see Section 6.4.1.5, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”.

  1. The server checks the data directory for RSA files with the following names:

    private_key.pem      Private member of private/public key pair
    public_key.pem       Public member of private/public key pair
  2. If any of these files are present, the server creates no RSA files. Otherwise, it creates them.

  3. If the server autogenerates the RSA files, it uses their names to set the corresponding system variables (sha256_password_private_key_path, sha256_password_public_key_path).

Manual SSL and RSA File Generation Using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup

MySQL distributions include a mysql_ssl_rsa_setup utility that can be invoked manually to generate SSL and RSA files. This utility is included with all MySQL distributions, but it does require that the openssl command be available. For usage instructions, see Section 4.4.5, “mysql_ssl_rsa_setup — Create SSL/RSA Files”.

SSL and RSA File Characteristics

SSL and RSA files created automatically by the server or by invoking mysql_ssl_rsa_setup have these characteristics:

  • SSL and RSA keys are have a size of 2048 bits.

  • The SSL CA certificate is self signed.

  • The SSL server and client certificates are signed with the CA certificate and key, using the sha256WithRSAEncryption signature algorithm.

  • SSL certificates use these Common Name (CN) values, with the appropriate certificate type (CA, Server, Client):

    ca.pem:         MySQL_Server_suffix_Auto_Generated_CA_Certificate
    server-cert.pm: MySQL_Server_suffix_Auto_Generated_Server_Certificate
    client-cert.pm: MySQL_Server_suffix_Auto_Generated_Client_Certificate
    

    The suffix value is based on the MySQL version number. For files generated by mysql_ssl_rsa_setup, the suffix can be specified explicitly using the --suffix option.

    For files generated by the server, if the resulting CN values exceed 64 characters, the _suffix portion of the name is omitted.

  • SSL files have blank values for Country (C), State or Province (ST), Organization (O), Organization Unit Name (OU) and email address.

  • SSL files created by the server or by mysql_ssl_rsa_setup are valid for ten years from the time of generation.

  • RSA files do not expire.

  • SSL files have different serial numbers for each certificate/key pair (1 for CA, 2 for Server, 3 for Client).

  • Files created automatically by the server are owned by the account that runs the server. Files created using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup are owned by the user who invoked that program. This can be changed on systems that support the chown() system call if the program is invoked by root and the --uid option is given to specify the user who should own the files.

  • On Unix and Unix-like systems, the file access mode is 644 for certificate files (that is, world readable) and 600 for key files (that is, accessible only by the account that runs the server).

To see the contents of an SSL certificate (for example, to check the range of dates over which it is valid), invoke openssl directly:

openssl x509 -text -in ca.pem
openssl x509 -text -in server-cert.pem
openssl x509 -text -in client-cert.pem

It is also possible to check SSL certificate expiration information using this SQL statement:

mysql> SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_server_not%';
+-----------------------+--------------------------+
| Variable_name         | Value                    |
+-----------------------+--------------------------+
| Ssl_server_not_after  | Apr 28 14:16:39 2027 GMT |
| Ssl_server_not_before | May  1 14:16:39 2017 GMT |
+-----------------------+--------------------------+

6.3.3.2 Creating SSL Certificates and Keys Using openssl

This section describes how to use the openssl command to set up SSL certificate and key files for use by MySQL servers and clients. The first example shows a simplified procedure such as you might use from the command line. The second shows a script that contains more detail. The first two examples are intended for use on Unix and both use the openssl command that is part of OpenSSL. The third example describes how to set up SSL files on Windows.

Note

There are easier alternatives to generating the files required for SSL than the procedure described here: Let the server autogenerate them or use the mysql_ssl_rsa_setup program. See Section 6.3.3.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”.

Important

Whatever method you use to generate the certificate and key files, the Common Name value used for the server and client certificates/keys must each differ from the Common Name value used for the CA certificate. Otherwise, the certificate and key files will not work for servers compiled using OpenSSL. A typical error in this case is:

ERROR 2026 (HY000): SSL connection error:
error:00000001:lib(0):func(0):reason(1)
Example 1: Creating SSL Files from the Command Line on Unix

The following example shows a set of commands to create MySQL server and client certificate and key files. You will need to respond to several prompts by the openssl commands. To generate test files, you can press Enter to all prompts. To generate files for production use, you should provide nonempty responses.

# Create clean environment
rm -rf newcerts
mkdir newcerts && cd newcerts

# Create CA certificate
openssl genrsa 2048 > ca-key.pem
openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -days 3600 \
        -key ca-key.pem -out ca.pem

# Create server certificate, remove passphrase, and sign it
# server-cert.pem = public key, server-key.pem = private key
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -days 3600 \
        -nodes -keyout server-key.pem -out server-req.pem
openssl rsa -in server-key.pem -out server-key.pem
openssl x509 -req -in server-req.pem -days 3600 \
        -CA ca.pem -CAkey ca-key.pem -set_serial 01 -out server-cert.pem

# Create client certificate, remove passphrase, and sign it
# client-cert.pem = public key, client-key.pem = private key
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -days 3600 \
        -nodes -keyout client-key.pem -out client-req.pem
openssl rsa -in client-key.pem -out client-key.pem
openssl x509 -req -in client-req.pem -days 3600 \
        -CA ca.pem -CAkey ca-key.pem -set_serial 01 -out client-cert.pem

After generating the certificates, verify them:

openssl verify -CAfile ca.pem server-cert.pem client-cert.pem

You should see a response like this:

server-cert.pem: OK
client-cert.pem: OK

To see the contents of a certificate (for example, to check the range of dates over which a certificate is valid), invoke openssl like this:

openssl x509 -text -in ca.pem
openssl x509 -text -in server-cert.pem
openssl x509 -text -in client-cert.pem

Now you have a set of files that can be used as follows:

  • ca.pem: Use this as the argument to --ssl-ca on the server and client sides. (The CA certificate, if used, must be the same on both sides.)

  • server-cert.pem, server-key.pem: Use these as the arguments to --ssl-cert and --ssl-key on the server side.

  • client-cert.pem, client-key.pem: Use these as the arguments to --ssl-cert and --ssl-key on the client side.

For additional usage instructions, see Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”.

Example 2: Creating SSL Files Using a Script on Unix

Here is an example script that shows how to set up SSL certificate and key files for MySQL. After executing the script, use the files for SSL connections as described in Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”.

DIR=`pwd`/openssl
PRIV=$DIR/private

mkdir $DIR $PRIV $DIR/newcerts
cp /usr/share/ssl/openssl.cnf $DIR
replace ./demoCA $DIR -- $DIR/openssl.cnf

# Create necessary files: $database, $serial and $new_certs_dir
# directory (optional)

touch $DIR/index.txt
echo "01" > $DIR/serial

#
# Generation of Certificate Authority(CA)
#

openssl req -new -x509 -keyout $PRIV/cakey.pem -out $DIR/ca.pem \
    -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf

# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
# ................++++++
# .........++++++
# writing new private key to '/home/finley/openssl/private/cakey.pem'
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
# -----
# You are about to be asked to enter information that will be
# incorporated into your certificate request.
# What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name
# or a DN.
# There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
# For some fields there will be a default value,
# If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
# -----
# Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
# State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
# Locality Name (eg, city) []:
# Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
# Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
# Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL admin
# Email Address []:

#
# Create server request and key
#
openssl req -new -keyout $DIR/server-key.pem -out \
    $DIR/server-req.pem -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf

# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
# ..++++++
# ..........++++++
# writing new private key to '/home/finley/openssl/server-key.pem'
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
# -----
# You are about to be asked to enter information that will be
# incorporated into your certificate request.
# What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name
# or a DN.
# There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
# For some fields there will be a default value,
# If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
# -----
# Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
# State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
# Locality Name (eg, city) []:
# Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
# Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
# Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL server
# Email Address []:
#
# Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
# to be sent with your certificate request
# A challenge password []:
# An optional company name []:

#
# Remove the passphrase from the key
#
openssl rsa -in $DIR/server-key.pem -out $DIR/server-key.pem

#
# Sign server cert
#
openssl ca -cert $DIR/ca.pem -policy policy_anything \
    -out $DIR/server-cert.pem -config $DIR/openssl.cnf \
    -infiles $DIR/server-req.pem

# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Check that the request matches the signature
# Signature ok
# The Subjects Distinguished Name is as follows
# countryName           :PRINTABLE:'FI'
# organizationName      :PRINTABLE:'MySQL AB'
# commonName            :PRINTABLE:'MySQL admin'
# Certificate is to be certified until Sep 13 14:22:46 2003 GMT
# (365 days)
# Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y
#
#
# 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
# Write out database with 1 new entries
# Data Base Updated

#
# Create client request and key
#
openssl req -new -keyout $DIR/client-key.pem -out \
    $DIR/client-req.pem -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf

# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
# .....................................++++++
# .............................................++++++
# writing new private key to '/home/finley/openssl/client-key.pem'
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
# -----
# You are about to be asked to enter information that will be
# incorporated into your certificate request.
# What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name
# or a DN.
# There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
# For some fields there will be a default value,
# If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
# -----
# Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
# State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
# Locality Name (eg, city) []:
# Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
# Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
# Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL user
# Email Address []:
#
# Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
# to be sent with your certificate request
# A challenge password []:
# An optional company name []:

#
# Remove the passphrase from the key
#
openssl rsa -in $DIR/client-key.pem -out $DIR/client-key.pem

#
# Sign client cert
#

openssl ca -cert $DIR/ca.pem -policy policy_anything \
    -out $DIR/client-cert.pem -config $DIR/openssl.cnf \
    -infiles $DIR/client-req.pem

# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Check that the request matches the signature
# Signature ok
# The Subjects Distinguished Name is as follows
# countryName           :PRINTABLE:'FI'
# organizationName      :PRINTABLE:'MySQL AB'
# commonName            :PRINTABLE:'MySQL user'
# Certificate is to be certified until Sep 13 16:45:17 2003 GMT
# (365 days)
# Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y
#
#
# 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
# Write out database with 1 new entries
# Data Base Updated

#
# Create a my.cnf file that you can use to test the certificates
#

cat <<EOF > $DIR/my.cnf
[client]
ssl-ca=$DIR/ca.pem
ssl-cert=$DIR/client-cert.pem
ssl-key=$DIR/client-key.pem
[mysqld]
ssl-ca=$DIR/ca.pem
ssl-cert=$DIR/server-cert.pem
ssl-key=$DIR/server-key.pem
EOF
Example 3: Creating SSL Files on Windows

Download OpenSSL for Windows if it is not installed on your system. An overview of available packages can be seen here:

http://www.slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html

Choose the Win32 OpenSSL Light or Win64 OpenSSL Light package, depending on your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit). The default installation location will be C:\OpenSSL-Win32 or C:\OpenSSL-Win64, depending on which package you downloaded. The following instructions assume a default location of C:\OpenSSL-Win32. Modify this as necessary if you are using the 64-bit package.

If a message occurs during setup indicating '...critical component is missing: Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributables', cancel the setup and download one of the following packages as well, again depending on your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit):

After installing the additional package, restart the OpenSSL setup procedure.

During installation, leave the default C:\OpenSSL-Win32 as the install path, and also leave the default option 'Copy OpenSSL DLL files to the Windows system directory' selected.

When the installation has finished, add C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin to the Windows System Path variable of your server (depending on your version of Windows, the following path-setting instructions might differ slightly):

  1. On the Windows desktop, right-click the My Computer icon, and select Properties.

  2. Select the Advanced tab from the System Properties menu that appears, and click the Environment Variables button.

  3. Under System Variables, select Path, then click the Edit button. The Edit System Variable dialogue should appear.

  4. Add ';C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin' to the end (notice the semicolon).

  5. Press OK 3 times.

  6. Check that OpenSSL was correctly integrated into the Path variable by opening a new command console (Start>Run>cmd.exe) and verifying that OpenSSL is available:

    Microsoft Windows [Version ...]
    Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
    
    C:\Windows\system32>cd \
    
    C:\>openssl
    OpenSSL> exit <<< If you see the OpenSSL prompt, installation was successful.
    
    C:\>
    

After OpenSSL has been installed, use instructions similar to those from Example 1 (shown earlier in this section), with the following changes:

  • Change the following Unix commands:

    # Create clean environment
    rm -rf newcerts
    mkdir newcerts && cd newcerts

    On Windows, use these commands instead:

    # Create clean environment
    md c:\newcerts
    cd c:\newcerts
  • When a '\' character is shown at the end of a command line, this '\' character must be removed and the command lines entered all on a single line.

After generating the certificate and key files, to use them for SSL connections, see Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”.

6.3.3.3 Creating RSA Keys Using openssl

This section describes how to use the openssl command to set up the RSA key files that enable MySQL to support secure password exchange over unencrypted connections for accounts authenticated by the sha256_password plugin.

Note

There are easier alternatives to generating the files required for RSA than the procedure described here: Let the server autogenerate them or use the mysql_ssl_rsa_setup program. See Section 6.3.3.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”.

To create the RSA private and public key-pair files, run these commands while logged into the system account used to run the MySQL server so the files will be owned by that account:

openssl genrsa -out private_key.pem 2048
openssl rsa -in private_key.pem -pubout -out public_key.pem

Those commands create 2,048-bit keys. To create stronger keys, use a larger value.

Then set the access modes for the key files. The private key should be readable only by the server, whereas the public key can be freely distributed to client users:

chmod 400 private_key.pem
chmod 444 public_key.pem

6.3.4 SSL Library-Dependent Capabilities

MySQL can be compiled using OpenSSL or yaSSL, both of which enable encrypted connections based on the OpenSSL API:

  • MySQL Enterprise Edition binary distributions are compiled using OpenSSL. It is not possible to use yaSSL with MySQL Enterprise Edition.

  • MySQL Community Edition binary distributions are compiled using yaSSL.

  • MySQL Community Edition source distributions can be compiled using either OpenSSL or yaSSL (see Section 2.9.6, “Configuring SSL Library Support”).

Note

It is possible to compile MySQL using yaSSL as an alternative to OpenSSL only prior to MySQL 5.7.28. As of MySQL 5.7.28, support for yaSSL is removed and all MySQL builds use OpenSSL.

OpenSSL and yaSSL offer the same basic functionality, but MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL have additional features:

Certain OpenSSL-related system and status variables are present only if MySQL was compiled using OpenSSL:

To determine whether a server was compiled using OpenSSL, test the existence of any of those variables. For example, this statement returns a row if OpenSSL was used and an empty result if yaSSL was used:

SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Rsa_public_key';

6.3.5 Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH

This section describes how to get an encrypted connection to a remote MySQL server with SSH. The information was provided by David Carlson .

  1. Install an SSH client on your Windows machine. For a comparison of SSH clients, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_SSH_clients.

  2. Start your Windows SSH client. Set Host_Name = yourmysqlserver_URL_or_IP. Set userid=your_userid to log in to your server. This userid value might not be the same as the user name of your MySQL account.

  3. Set up port forwarding. Either do a remote forward (Set local_port: 3306, remote_host: yourmysqlservername_or_ip, remote_port: 3306 ) or a local forward (Set port: 3306, host: localhost, remote port: 3306).

  4. Save everything, otherwise you will have to redo it the next time.

  5. Log in to your server with the SSH session you just created.

  6. On your Windows machine, start some ODBC application (such as Access).

  7. Create a new file in Windows and link to MySQL using the ODBC driver the same way you normally do, except type in localhost for the MySQL host server, not yourmysqlservername.

At this point, you should have an ODBC connection to MySQL, encrypted using SSH.

6.4 Security Plugins

MySQL includes several plugins that implement security features:

  • Plugins for authenticating attempts by clients to connect to MySQL Server. Plugins are available for several authentication protocols. For general discussion of the authentication process, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. For characteristics of specific authentication plugins, see Section 6.4.1, “Authentication Plugins”.

  • A password-validation plugin for implementing password strength policies and assessing the strength of potential passwords. See Section 6.4.3, “The Password Validation Plugin”.

  • Keyring plugins that provide secure storage for sensitive information. See Section 6.4.4, “The MySQL Keyring”.

  • (MySQL Enterprise Edition only) MySQL Enterprise Audit, implemented using a server plugin, uses the open MySQL Audit API to enable standard, policy-based monitoring and logging of connection and query activity executed on specific MySQL servers. Designed to meet the Oracle audit specification, MySQL Enterprise Audit provides an out of box, easy to use auditing and compliance solution for applications that are governed by both internal and external regulatory guidelines. See Section 6.4.5, “MySQL Enterprise Audit”.

  • (MySQL Enterprise Edition only) MySQL Enterprise Firewall, an application-level firewall that enables database administrators to permit or deny SQL statement execution based on matching against whitelists of accepted statement patterns. This helps harden MySQL Server against attacks such as SQL injection or attempts to exploit applications by using them outside of their legitimate query workload characteristics. See Section 6.4.6, “MySQL Enterprise Firewall”.

  • (MySQL Enterprise Edition only) MySQL Enterprise Data Masking and De-Identification, implemented as a plugin library containing a plugin and a set of user-defined functions. Data masking hides sensitive information by replacing real values with substitutes. MySQL Enterprise Data Masking and De-Identification functions enable masking existing data using several methods such as obfuscation (removing identifying characteristics), generation of formatted random data, and data replacement or substitution. See Section 6.4.7, “MySQL Enterprise Data Masking and De-Identification”.

6.4.1 Authentication Plugins

The following sections describe pluggable authentication methods available in MySQL and the plugins that implement these methods. For general discussion of the authentication process, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

The default plugin is indicated by the value of the default_authentication_plugin system variable.

6.4.1.1 Native Pluggable Authentication

MySQL includes two plugins that implement native authentication; that is, authentication based on the password hashing methods in use from before the introduction of pluggable authentication. This section describes mysql_native_password, which implements authentication against the mysql.user system table using the native password hashing method. For information about mysql_old_password, which implements authentication using the older (pre-4.1) native password hashing method, see Section 6.4.1.2, “Old Native Pluggable Authentication”. For information about these password hashing methods, see Section 6.1.2.4, “Password Hashing in MySQL”.

The following table shows the plugin names on the server and client sides.

Table 6.8 Plugin and Library Names for Native Password Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin mysql_native_password
Client-side plugin mysql_native_password
Library file None (plugins are built in)

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to native pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Installing Native Pluggable Authentication

The mysql_native_password plugin exists in server and client forms:

  • The server-side plugin is built into the server, need not be loaded explicitly, and cannot be disabled by unloading it.

  • The client-side plugin is built into the libmysqlclient client library and is available to any program linked against libmysqlclient.

Using Native Pluggable Authentication

MySQL client programs use mysql_native_password by default. The --default-auth option can be used as a hint about which client-side plugin the program can expect to use:

shell> mysql --default-auth=mysql_native_password ...

6.4.1.2 Old Native Pluggable Authentication

MySQL includes two plugins that implement native authentication; that is, authentication based on the password hashing methods in use from before the introduction of pluggable authentication. This section describes mysql_old_password, which implements authentication against the mysql.user system table using the older (pre-4.1) native password hashing method. For information about mysql_native_password, which implements authentication using the native password hashing method, see Section 6.4.1.1, “Native Pluggable Authentication”. For information about these password hashing methods, see Section 6.1.2.4, “Password Hashing in MySQL”.

Note

Passwords that use the pre-4.1 hashing method are less secure than passwords that use the native password hashing method and should be avoided. Pre-4.1 passwords are deprecated and support for them (including the mysql_old_password plugin) was removed in MySQL 5.7.5. For account upgrade instructions, see Section 6.4.1.3, “Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin”.

The following table shows the plugin names on the server and client sides.

Table 6.9 Plugin and Library Names for Old Native Password Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin mysql_old_password
Client-side plugin mysql_old_password
Library file None (plugins are built in)

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to old native pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Installing Old Native Pluggable Authentication

The mysql_old_password plugin exists in server and client forms:

  • The server-side plugin is built into the server, need not be loaded explicitly, and cannot be disabled by unloading it.

  • The client-side plugin is built into the libmysqlclient client library and is available to any program linked against libmysqlclient.

Using Old Native Pluggable Authentication

MySQL client programs can use the --default-auth option to specify the mysql_old_password plugin as a hint about which client-side plugin the program can expect to use:

shell> mysql --default-auth=mysql_old_password ...

6.4.1.3 Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin

The MySQL server authenticates connection attempts for each account listed in the mysql.user system table using the authentication plugin named in the plugin column. If the plugin column is empty, the server authenticates the account as follows:

  • Before MySQL 5.7, the server uses the mysql_native_password or mysql_old_password plugin implicitly, depending on the format of the password hash in the Password column. If the Password value is empty or a 4.1 password hash (41 characters), the server uses mysql_native_password. If the password value is a pre-4.1 password hash (16 characters), the server uses mysql_old_password. (For additional information about these hash formats, see Section 6.1.2.4, “Password Hashing in MySQL”.)

  • As of MySQL 5.7, the server requires the plugin column to be nonempty and disables accounts that have an empty plugin value.

Pre-4.1 password hashes and the mysql_old_password plugin are deprecated in MySQL 5.6 and support for them is removed in MySQL 5.7. They provide a level of security inferior to that offered by 4.1 password hashing and the mysql_native_password plugin.

Given the requirement in MySQL 5.7 that the plugin column must be nonempty, coupled with removal of mysql_old_password support, DBAs are advised to upgrade accounts as follows:

  • Upgrade accounts that use mysql_native_password implicitly to use it explicitly

  • Upgrade accounts that use mysql_old_password (either implicitly or explicitly) to use mysql_native_password explicitly

The instructions in this section describe how to perform those upgrades. The result is that no account has an empty plugin value and no account uses pre-4.1 password hashing or the mysql_old_password plugin.

As a variant on these instructions, DBAs might offer users the choice to upgrade to the sha256_password plugin, which authenticates using SHA-256 password hashes. For information about this plugin, see Section 6.4.1.5, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”.

The following table lists the types of mysql.user accounts considered in this discussion.

plugin Column Password Column Authentication Result Upgrade Action
Empty Empty Implicitly uses mysql_native_password Assign plugin
Empty 4.1 hash Implicitly uses mysql_native_password Assign plugin
Empty Pre-4.1 hash Implicitly uses mysql_old_password Assign plugin, rehash password
mysql_native_password Empty Explicitly uses mysql_native_password None
mysql_native_password 4.1 hash Explicitly uses mysql_native_password None
mysql_old_password Empty Explicitly uses mysql_old_password Upgrade plugin
mysql_old_password Pre-4.1 hash Explicitly uses mysql_old_password Upgrade plugin, rehash password

Accounts corresponding to lines for the mysql_native_password plugin require no upgrade action (because no change of plugin or hash format is required). For accounts corresponding to lines for which the password is empty, consider asking the account owners to choose a password (or require it by using ALTER USER to expire empty account passwords).

Upgrading Accounts from Implicit to Explicit mysql_native_password Use

Accounts that have an empty plugin and a 4.1 password hash use mysql_native_password implicitly. To upgrade these accounts to use mysql_native_password explicitly, execute these statements:

UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = 'mysql_native_password'
WHERE plugin = '' AND (Password = '' OR LENGTH(Password) = 41);
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Before MySQL 5.7, you can execute those statements to uprade accounts proactively. As of MySQL 5.7, you can run mysql_upgrade, which performs the same operation among its upgrade actions.

Notes:

  • The upgrade operation just described is safe to execute at any time because it makes the mysql_native_password plugin explicit only for accounts that already use it implicitly.

  • This operation requires no password changes, so it can be performed without affecting users or requiring their involvement in the upgrade process.

Upgrading Accounts from mysql_old_password to mysql_native_password

Accounts that use mysql_old_password (either implicitly or explicitly) should be upgraded to use mysql_native_password explicitly. This requires changing the plugin and changing the password from pre-4.1 to 4.1 hash format.

For the accounts covered in this step that must be upgraded, one of these conditions is true:

  • The account uses mysql_old_password implicitly because the plugin column is empty and the password has the pre-4.1 hash format (16 characters).

  • The account uses mysql_old_password explicitly.

To identify such accounts, use this query:

SELECT User, Host, Password FROM mysql.user
WHERE (plugin = '' AND LENGTH(Password) = 16)
OR plugin = 'mysql_old_password';

The following discussion provides two methods for updating that set of accounts. They have differing characteristics, so read both and decide which is most suitable for a given MySQL installation.

Method 1.

Characteristics of this method:

  • It requires that server and clients be run with secure_auth=0 until all users have been upgraded to mysql_native_password. (Otherwise, users cannot connect to the server using their old-format password hashes for the purpose of upgrading to a new-format hash.)

  • It works for MySQL 5.5 and 5.6. In 5.7, it does not work because the server requires accounts to have a nonempty plugin and disables them otherwise. Therefore, if you have already upgraded to 5.7, choose Method 2, described later.

You should ensure that the server is running with secure_auth=0.

For all accounts that use mysql_old_password explicitly, set them to the empty plugin:

UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = ''
WHERE plugin = 'mysql_old_password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

To also expire the password for affected accounts, use these statements instead:

UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = '', password_expired = 'Y'
WHERE plugin = 'mysql_old_password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Now affected users can reset their password to use 4.1 hashing. Ask each user who now has an empty plugin to connect to the server and execute these statements:

SET old_passwords = 0;
SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('user-chosen-password');
Note

The client-side --secure-auth option is enabled by default, so remind users to disable it or they will be unable to connect:

shell> mysql -u user_name -p --secure-auth=0

After an affected user has executed those statements, you can set the corresponding account plugin to mysql_native_password to make the plugin explicit. Or you can periodically run these statements to find and fix any accounts for which affected users have reset their password:

UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = 'mysql_native_password'
WHERE plugin = '' AND (Password = '' OR LENGTH(Password) = 41);
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

When there are no more accounts with an empty plugin, this query returns an empty result:

SELECT User, Host, Password FROM mysql.user
WHERE plugin = '' AND LENGTH(Password) = 16;

At that point, all accounts have been migrated away from pre-4.1 password hashing and the server no longer need be run with secure_auth=0.

Method 2.

Characteristics of this method:

  • It assigns each affected account a new password, so you must tell each such user the new password and ask the user to choose a new one. Communication of passwords to users is outside the scope of MySQL, but should be done carefully.

  • It does not require server or clients to be run with secure_auth=0.

  • It works for any version of MySQL 5.5 or later (and for 5.7 has an easier variant).

With this method, you update each account separately due to the need to set passwords individually. Choose a different password for each account.

Suppose that 'user1'@'localhost' is one of the accounts to be upgraded. Modify it as follows:

  • In MySQL 5.7, ALTER USER provides the capability of modifying both the account password and its authentication plugin, so you need not modify the mysql.user system table directly:

    ALTER USER 'user1'@'localhost'
    IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'DBA-chosen-password';
    

    To also expire the account password, use this statement instead:

    ALTER USER 'user1'@'localhost'
    IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'DBA-chosen-password'
    PASSWORD EXPIRE;
    

    Then tell the user the new password and ask the user to connect to the server with that password and execute this statement to choose a new password:

    ALTER USER USER() IDENTIFIED BY 'user-chosen-password';
    
  • Before MySQL 5.7, you must modify the mysql.user system table directly using these statements:

    SET old_passwords = 0;
    UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = 'mysql_native_password',
    Password = PASSWORD('DBA-chosen-password')
    WHERE (User, Host) = ('user1', 'localhost');
    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
    

    To also expire the account password, use these statements instead:

    SET old_passwords = 0;
    UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = 'mysql_native_password',
    Password = PASSWORD('DBA-chosen-password'), password_expired = 'Y'
    WHERE (User, Host) = ('user1', 'localhost');
    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
    

    Then tell the user the new password and ask the user to connect to the server with that password and execute these statements to choose a new password:

    SET old_passwords = 0;
    SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('user-chosen-password');
    

Repeat for each account to be upgraded.

6.4.1.4 Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication

MySQL provides two authentication plugins that implement SHA-256 hashing for user account passwords:

  • sha256_password: Implements basic SHA-256 authentication.

  • caching_sha2_password: Implements SHA-256 authentication (like sha256_password), but uses caching on the server side for better performance and has additional features for wider applicability. (In MySQL 5.7, caching_sha2_password is implemented only on the client side, as described later in this section.)

This section describes the caching SHA-2 authentication plugin, available as of MySQL 5.7.23. For information about the original basic (noncaching) plugin, see Section 6.4.1.5, “SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication”.

Important

In MySQL 5.7, the default authentication plugin is mysql_native_password. As of MySQL 8.0, the default authentication plugin is changed to caching_sha2_password. To enable MySQL 5.7 clients to connect to 8.0 and higher servers using accounts that authenticate with caching_sha2_password, the MySQL 5.7 client library and client programs support the caching_sha2_password client-side authentication plugin. This improves MySQL 5.7 client connect-capability compatibility with respect to MySQL 8.0 and higher servers, despite the differences in default authentication plugin.

Limiting caching_sha2_password support in MySQL 5.7 to the client-side plugin in the client library has these implications compared to MySQL 8.0:

In addition, there is no support for MySQL 5.7 replication slaves to connect to MySQL 8.0 replication masters using accounts that authenticate with caching_sha2_password. That would involve a master replicating to a slave with a version number lower than the master version, whereas masters normally replicate to slaves having a version equal to or higher than the master version.

Important

To connect to a MySQL 8.0 or higher server using an account that authenticates with the caching_sha2_password plugin, you must use either a secure connection or an unencrypted connection that supports password exchange using an RSA key pair, as described later in this section. Either way, the caching_sha2_password plugin uses MySQL's encryption capabilities. See Section 6.3, “Using Encrypted Connections”.

Note

In the name sha256_password, sha256 refers to the 256-bit digest length the plugin uses for encryption. In the name caching_sha2_password, sha2 refers more generally to the SHA-2 class of encryption algorithms, of which 256-bit encryption is one instance. The latter name choice leaves room for future expansion of possible digest lengths without changing the plugin name.

The caching_sha2_password plugin has these advantages, compared to sha256_password:

  • On the server side, an in-memory cache enables faster reauthentication of users who have connected previously when they connect again. (This server-side behavior is implemented only in MySQL 8.0 and higher.)

  • Support is provided for client connections that use the Unix socket-file and shared-memory protocols.

The following table shows the plugin name on the client side.

Table 6.10 Plugin and Library Names for SHA-2 Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Client-side plugin caching_sha2_password
Library file None (plugin is built in)

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to caching SHA-2 pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Installing SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication

In MySQL 5.7, the caching_sha2_password plugin exists in client form. The client-side plugin is built into the libmysqlclient client library and is available to any program linked against libmysqlclient.

Using SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication

In MySQL 5.7, the caching_sha2_password client-side plugin enables connecting to MySQL 8.0 or higher servers using accounts that authenticate with the caching_sha2_password server-side plugin. The discussion here assumes that an account named 'sha2user'@'localhost' exists on the MySQL 8.0 or higher server. For example, the following statement creates such an account, where password is the desired account password:

CREATE USER 'sha2user'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password BY 'password';

caching_sha2_password supports connections over secure transport. caching_sha2_password also supports encrypted password exchange using RSA over unencrypted connections if these conditions are satisfied:

  • The MySQL 5.7 client library and client programs are compiled using OpenSSL, not yaSSL. caching_sha2_password works with distributions compiled using either package, but RSA support requires OpenSSL.

    Note

    It is possible to compile MySQL using yaSSL as an alternative to OpenSSL only prior to MySQL 5.7.28. As of MySQL 5.7.28, support for yaSSL is removed and all MySQL builds use OpenSSL.

  • The MySQL 8.0 or higher server to which you wish to connect is configured to support RSA (using the RSA configuration procedure given later in this section).

RSA support has these characteristics, where all aspects that pertain to the server side require a MySQL 8.0 or higher server:

  • On the server side, two system variables name the RSA private and public key-pair files: caching_sha2_password_private_key_path and caching_sha2_password_public_key_path. The database administrator must set these variables at server startup if the key files to use have names that differ from the system variable default values.

  • The server uses the caching_sha2_password_auto_generate_rsa_keys system variable to determine whether to automatically generate the RSA key-pair files. See Section 6.3.3, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”.

  • The Caching_sha2_password_rsa_public_key status variable displays the RSA public key value used by the caching_sha2_password authentication plugin.

  • Clients that are in possession of the RSA public key can perform RSA key pair-based password exchange with the server during the connection process, as described later.

  • For connections by accounts that authenticate with caching_sha2_password and RSA key pair-based password exchange, the server does not send the RSA public key to clients by default. Clients can use a client-side copy of the required public key, or request the public key from the server.

    Use of a trusted local copy of the public key enables the client to avoid a round trip in the client/server protocol, and is more secure than requesting the public key from the server. On the other hand, requesting the public key from the server is more convenient (it requires no management of a client-side file) and may be acceptable in secure network environments.

    In all cases, if the option is given to specify a valid public key file, it takes precedence over the option to request the public key from the server.

For clients that use the caching_sha2_password plugin, passwords are never exposed as cleartext when connecting to the MySQL 8.0 or higher server. How password transmission occurs depends on whether a secure connection or RSA encryption is used:

  • If the connection is secure, an RSA key pair is unnecessary and is not used. This applies to encrypted TCP connections that use TLS, as well as Unix socket-file and shared-memory connections. The password is sent as cleartext but cannot be snooped because the connection is secure.

  • If the connection is not secure, an RSA key pair is used. This applies to unencrypted TCP connections without TLS and named-pipe connections. RSA is used only for password exchange between client and server, to prevent password snooping. When the server receives the encrypted password, it decrypts it. A scramble is used in the encryption to prevent repeat attacks.

  • If a secure connection is not used and RSA encryption is not available, the connection attempt fails because the password cannot be sent without being exposed as cleartext.

As mentioned previously, RSA password encryption is available only if MySQL 5.7 was compiled using OpenSSL. The implication for clients from MySQL 5.7 distributions compiled using yaSSL is that, to use SHA-2 passwords, clients must use an encrypted connection to access the server. See Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”.

Assuming that MySQL 5.7 has been compiled using OpenSSL, use the following procedure to enable use of an RSA key pair for password exchange during the client connection process.

Important

Aspects of this procedure that pertain to server configuration must be done on the MySQL 8.0 or higher server to which you wish to connect using MySQL 5.7 clients, not on your MySQL 5.7 server.

  1. Create the RSA private and public key-pair files using the instructions in Section 6.3.3, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”.

  2. If the private and public key files are located in the data directory and are named private_key.pem and public_key.pem (the default values of the caching_sha2_password_private_key_path and caching_sha2_password_public_key_path system variables), the server uses them automatically at startup.

    Otherwise, to name the key files explicitly, set the system variables to the key file names in the server option file. If the files are located in the server data directory, you need not specify their full path names:

    [mysqld]
    caching_sha2_password_private_key_path=myprivkey.pem
    caching_sha2_password_public_key_path=mypubkey.pem

    If the key files are not located in the data directory, or to make their locations explicit in the system variable values, use full path names:

    [mysqld]
    caching_sha2_password_private_key_path=/usr/local/mysql/myprivkey.pem
    caching_sha2_password_public_key_path=/usr/local/mysql/mypubkey.pem
  3. Restart the server, then connect to it and check the Caching_sha2_password_rsa_public_key status variable value. The value will differ from that shown here, but should be nonempty:

    mysql> SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Caching_sha2_password_rsa_public_key'\G
    *************************** 1. row ***************************
    Variable_name: Caching_sha2_password_rsa_public_key
            Value: -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
    MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDO9nRUDd+KvSZgY7cNBZMNpwX6
    MvE1PbJFXO7u18nJ9lwc99Du/E7lw6CVXw7VKrXPeHbVQUzGyUNkf45Nz/ckaaJa
    aLgJOBCIDmNVnyU54OT/1lcs2xiyfaDMe8fCJ64ZwTnKbY2gkt1IMjUAB5Ogd5kJ
    g8aV7EtKwyhHb0c30QIDAQAB
    -----END PUBLIC KEY-----
    

    If the value is empty, the server found some problem with the key files. Check the error log for diagnostic information.

After the server has been configured with the RSA key files, accounts that authenticate with the caching_sha2_password plugin have the option of using those key files to connect to the server. As mentioned previously, such accounts can use either a secure connection (in which case RSA is not used) or an unencrypted connection that performs password exchange using RSA. Suppose that an unencrypted connection is used. For example:

shell> mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED -u sha2user -p
Enter password: password

For this connection attempt by sha2user, the server determines that caching_sha2_password is the appropriate authentication plugin and invokes it (because that was the plugin specified at CREATE USER time). The plugin finds that the connection is not encrypted and thus requires the password to be transmitted using RSA encryption. However, the server does not send the public key to the client, and the client provided no public key, so it cannot encrypt the password and the connection fails:

ERROR 2061 (HY000): Authentication plugin 'caching_sha2_password'
reported error: Authentication requires secure connection.

To request the RSA public key from the server, specify the --get-server-public-key option:

shell> mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED -u sha2user -p --get-server-public-key
Enter password: password

In this case, the server sends the RSA public key to the client, which uses it to encrypt the password and returns the result to the server. The plugin uses the RSA private key on the server side to decrypt the password and accepts or rejects the connection based on whether the password is correct.

Alternatively, if the client has a file containing a local copy of the RSA public key required by the server, it can specify the file using the --server-public-key-path option:

shell> mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED -u sha2user -p --server-public-key-path=file_name
Enter password: password

In this case, the client uses the public key to encrypt the password and returns the result to the server. The plugin uses the RSA private key on the server side to decrypt the password and accepts or rejects the connection based on whether the password is correct.

The public key value in the file named by the --server-public-key-path option should be the same as the key value in the server-side file named by the caching_sha2_password_public_key_path system variable. If the key file contains a valid public key value but the value is incorrect, an access-denied error occurs. If the key file does not contain a valid public key, the client program cannot use it.

Client users can obtain the RSA public key two ways:

  • The database administrator can provide a copy of the public key file.

  • A client user who can connect to the server some other way can use a SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Caching_sha2_password_rsa_public_key' statement and save the returned key value in a file.

Cache Operation for SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication

On the server side, the caching_sha2_password plugin uses an in-memory cache for faster authentication of clients who have connected previously. For MySQL 5.7, which supports only the caching_sha2_password client-side plugin, this server-side caching thus takes place on the MySQL 8.0 or higher server to which you connect using MySQL 5.7 clients. For information about cache operation, see Cache Operation for SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication, in MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual.

6.4.1.5 SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication

MySQL provides two authentication plugins that implement SHA-256 hashing for user account passwords:

  • sha256_password: Implements basic SHA-256 authentication.

  • caching_sha2_password: Implements SHA-256 authentication (like sha256_password), but uses caching on the server side for better performance and has additional features for wider applicability.

This section describes the original noncaching SHA-2 authentication plugin. For information about the caching plugin, see Section 6.4.1.4, “Caching SHA-2 Pluggable Authentication”.

Important

To connect to the server using an account that authenticates with the sha256_password plugin, you must use either a TLS connection or an unencrypted connection that supports password exchange using an RSA key pair, as described later in this section. Either way, the sha256_password plugin uses MySQL's encryption capabilities. See Section 6.3, “Using Encrypted Connections”.

Note

In the name sha256_password, sha256 refers to the 256-bit digest length the plugin uses for encryption. In the name caching_sha2_password, sha2 refers more generally to the SHA-2 class of encryption algorithms, of which 256-bit encryption is one instance. The latter name choice leaves room for future expansion of possible digest lengths without changing the plugin name.

The following table shows the plugin names on the server and client sides.

Table 6.11 Plugin and Library Names for SHA-256 Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin sha256_password
Client-side plugin sha256_password
Library file None (plugins are built in)

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to SHA-256 pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Installing SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication

The sha256_password plugin exists in server and client forms:

  • The server-side plugin is built into the server, need not be loaded explicitly, and cannot be disabled by unloading it.

  • The client-side plugin is built into the libmysqlclient client library and is available to any program linked against libmysqlclient.

Using SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication

To set up an account that uses the sha256_password plugin for SHA-256 password hashing, use the following statement, where password is the desired account password:

CREATE USER 'sha256user'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED WITH sha256_password BY 'password';

The server assigns the sha256_password plugin to the account and uses it to encrypt the password using SHA-256, storing those values in the plugin and authentication_string columns of the mysql.user system table.

The preceding instructions do not assume that sha256_password is the default authentication plugin. If sha256_password is the default authentication plugin, a simpler CREATE USER syntax can be used.

To start the server with the default authentication plugin set to sha256_password, put these lines in the server option file:

[mysqld]
default_authentication_plugin=sha256_password

That causes the sha256_password plugin to be used by default for new accounts. As a result, it is possible to create the account and set its password without naming the plugin explicitly:

CREATE USER 'sha256user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Another consequence of setting default_authentication_plugin to sha256_password is that, to use some other plugin for account creation, you must specify that plugin explicitly. For example, to use the mysql_native_password plugin, use this statement:

CREATE USER 'nativeuser'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';

sha256_password supports connections over secure transport. sha256_password also supports encrypted password exchange using RSA over unencrypted connections if these conditions are satisfied:

  • MySQL is compiled using OpenSSL, not yaSSL. sha256_password works with distributions compiled using either package, but RSA support requires OpenSSL.

    Note

    It is possible to compile MySQL using yaSSL as an alternative to OpenSSL only prior to MySQL 5.7.28. As of MySQL 5.7.28, support for yaSSL is removed and all MySQL builds use OpenSSL.

  • The MySQL server to which you wish to connect is configured to support RSA (using the RSA configuration procedure given later in this section).

RSA support has these characteristics:

  • On the server side, two system variables name the RSA private and public key-pair files: sha256_password_private_key_path and sha256_password_public_key_path. The database administrator must set these variables at server startup if the key files to use have names that differ from the system variable default values.

  • The server uses the sha256_password_auto_generate_rsa_keys system variable to determine whether to automatically generate the RSA key-pair files. See Section 6.3.3, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”.

  • The Rsa_public_key status variable displays the RSA public key value used by the sha256_password authentication plugin.

  • Clients that are in possession of the RSA public key can perform RSA key pair-based password exchange with the server during the connection process, as described later.

  • For connections by accounts that authenticate using sha256_password and RSA public key pair-based password exchange, the server sends the RSA public key to the client as needed. However, if a copy of the public key is available on the client host, the client can use it to save a round trip in the client/server protocol:

    • For these command-line clients, use the --server-public-key-path option to specify the RSA public key file: mysql, mysqltest, and (as of MySQL 5.7.23) mysqladmin, mysqlbinlog, mysqlcheck, mysqldump, mysqlimport, mysqlpump, mysqlshow, mysqlslap, mysqltest.

    • For programs that use the C API, call mysql_options() to specify the RSA public key file by passing the MYSQL_SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY option and the name of the file.

    • For replication slaves, RSA key pair-based password exchange cannot be used to connect to master servers for accounts that authenticate with the sha256_password plugin. For such accounts, only secure connections can be used.

For clients that use the sha256_password plugin, passwords are never exposed as cleartext when connecting to the server. How password transmission occurs depends on whether a secure connection or RSA encryption is used:

  • If the connection is secure, an RSA key pair is unnecessary and is not used. This applies to encrypted connections that use TLS. The password is sent as cleartext but cannot be snooped because the connection is secure.

  • If the connection is not secure, and an RSA key pair is available, the connection remains unencrypted. This applies to unencrypted connections without TLS. RSA is used only for password exchange between client and server, to prevent password snooping. When the server receives the encrypted password, it decrypts it. A scramble is used in the encryption to prevent repeat attacks.

  • If a secure connection is not used and RSA encryption is not available, the connection attempt fails because the password cannot be sent without being exposed as cleartext.

As mentioned previously, RSA password encryption is available only if MySQL was compiled using OpenSSL. The implication for MySQL distributions compiled using yaSSL is that, to use SHA-256 passwords, clients must use an encrypted connection to access the server. See Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”.

Note

To use RSA password encryption with sha256_password, the client and server both must be compiled using OpenSSL, not just one of them.

Assuming that MySQL has been compiled using OpenSSL, use the following procedure to enable use of an RSA key pair for password exchange during the client connection process:

  1. Create the RSA private and public key-pair files using the instructions in Section 6.3.3, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”.

  2. If the private and public key files are located in the data directory and are named private_key.pem and public_key.pem (the default values of the sha256_password_private_key_path and sha256_password_public_key_path system variables), the server uses them automatically at startup.

    Otherwise, to name the key files explicitly, set the system variables to the key file names in the server option file. If the files are located in the server data directory, you need not specify their full path names:

    [mysqld]
    sha256_password_private_key_path=myprivkey.pem
    sha256_password_public_key_path=mypubkey.pem

    If the key files are not located in the data directory, or to make their locations explicit in the system variable values, use full path names:

    [mysqld]
    sha256_password_private_key_path=/usr/local/mysql/myprivkey.pem
    sha256_password_public_key_path=/usr/local/mysql/mypubkey.pem
  3. Restart the server, then connect to it and check the Rsa_public_key status variable value. The value will differ from that shown here, but should be nonempty:

    mysql> SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Rsa_public_key'\G
    *************************** 1. row ***************************
    Variable_name: Rsa_public_key
            Value: -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
    MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDO9nRUDd+KvSZgY7cNBZMNpwX6
    MvE1PbJFXO7u18nJ9lwc99Du/E7lw6CVXw7VKrXPeHbVQUzGyUNkf45Nz/ckaaJa
    aLgJOBCIDmNVnyU54OT/1lcs2xiyfaDMe8fCJ64ZwTnKbY2gkt1IMjUAB5Ogd5kJ
    g8aV7EtKwyhHb0c30QIDAQAB
    -----END PUBLIC KEY-----
    

    If the value is empty, the server found some problem with the key files. Check the error log for diagnostic information.

After the server has been configured with the RSA key files, accounts that authenticate with the sha256_password plugin have the option of using those key files to connect to the server. As mentioned previously, such accounts can use either a secure connection (in which case RSA is not used) or an unencrypted connection that performs password exchange using RSA. Suppose that an unencrypted connection is used. For example:

shell> mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED -u sha256user -p
Enter password: password

For this connection attempt by sha256user, the server determines that sha256_password is the appropriate authentication plugin and invokes it (because that was the plugin specified at CREATE USER time). The plugin finds that the connection is not encrypted and thus requires the password to be transmitted using RSA encryption. In this case, the plugin sends the RSA public key to the client, which uses it to encrypt the password and returns the result to the server. The plugin uses the RSA private key on the server side to decrypt the password and accepts or rejects the connection based on whether the password is correct.

The server sends the RSA public key to the client as needed. However, if the client has a file containing a local copy of the RSA public key required by the server, it can specify the file using the --server-public-key-path option:

shell> mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED -u sha256user -p --server-public-key-path=file_name
Enter password: password

The public key value in the file named by the --server-public-key-path option should be the same as the key value in the server-side file named by the sha256_password_public_key_path system variable. If the key file contains a valid public key value but the value is incorrect, an access-denied error occurs. If the key file does not contain a valid public key, the client program cannot use it. In this case, the sha256_password plugin sends the public key to the client as if no --server-public-key-path option had been specified.

Client users can obtain the RSA public key two ways:

  • The database administrator can provide a copy of the public key file.

  • A client user who can connect to the server some other way can use a SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Rsa_public_key' statement and save the returned key value in a file.

6.4.1.6 Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication

A client-side authentication plugin is available that enables clients to send passwords to the server as cleartext, without hashing or encryption. This plugin is built into the MySQL client library.

The following table shows the plugin name.

Table 6.12 Plugin and Library Names for Cleartext Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin None, see discussion
Client-side plugin mysql_clear_password
Library file None (plugin is built in)

Many client-side authentication plugins perform hashing or encryption of a password before the client sends it to the server. This enables clients to avoid sending passwords as cleartext.

Hashing or encryption cannot be done for authentication schemes that require the server to receive the password as entered on the client side. In such cases, the client-side mysql_clear_password plugin is used, which enables the client to send the password to the server as cleartext. There is no corresponding server-side plugin. Rather, mysql_clear_password can be used on the client side in concert with any server-side plugin that needs a cleartext password. (Examples are the PAM and simple LDAP authentication plugins; see Section 6.4.1.7, “PAM Pluggable Authentication”, and Section 6.4.1.9, “LDAP Pluggable Authentication”.)

The following discussion provides usage information specific to cleartext pluggable authentication. For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Note

Sending passwords as cleartext may be a security problem in some configurations. To avoid problems if there is any possibility that the password would be intercepted, clients should connect to MySQL Server using a method that protects the password. Possibilities include SSL (see Section 6.3, “Using Encrypted Connections”), IPsec, or a private network.

To make inadvertent use of the mysql_clear_password plugin less likely, MySQL clients must explicitly enable it. This can be done in several ways:

  • Set the LIBMYSQL_ENABLE_CLEARTEXT_PLUGIN environment variable to a value that begins with 1, Y, or y. This enables the plugin for all client connections.

  • The mysql, mysqladmin, and mysqlslap client programs (also mysqlcheck, mysqldump, and mysqlshow for MySQL 5.7.10 and later) support an --enable-cleartext-plugin option that enables the plugin on a per-invocation basis.

  • The mysql_options() C API function supports a MYSQL_ENABLE_CLEARTEXT_PLUGIN option that enables the plugin on a per-connection basis. Also, any program that uses libmysqlclient and reads option files can enable the plugin by including an enable-cleartext-plugin option in an option group read by the client library.

6.4.1.7 PAM Pluggable Authentication

Note

PAM pluggable authentication is an extension included in MySQL Enterprise Edition, a commercial product. To learn more about commercial products, see https://www.mysql.com/products/.

MySQL Enterprise Edition supports an authentication method that enables MySQL Server to use PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) to authenticate MySQL users. PAM enables a system to use a standard interface to access various kinds of authentication methods, such as traditional Unix passwords or an LDAP directory.

PAM pluggable authentication provides these capabilities:

  • External authentication: PAM authentication enables MySQL Server to accept connections from users defined outside the MySQL grant tables and that authenticate using methods supported by PAM.

  • Proxy user support: PAM authentication can return to MySQL a user name different from the external user name passed by the client program, based on the PAM groups the external user is a member of and the authentication string provided. This means that the plugin can return the MySQL user that defines the privileges the external PAM-authenticated user should have. For example, an operating sytem user named joe can connect and have the privileges of a MySQL user named developer.

PAM pluggable authentication has been tested on Linux and macOS.

The following table shows the plugin and library file names. The file name suffix might differ on your system. The file must be located in the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable. For installation information, see Installing PAM Pluggable Authentication.

Table 6.13 Plugin and Library Names for PAM Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin authentication_pam
Client-side plugin mysql_clear_password
Library file authentication_pam.so

The client-side mysql_clear_password cleartext plugin that communicates with the server-side PAM plugin is built into the libmysqlclient client library and is included in all distributions, including community distributions. Inclusion of the client-side cleartext plugin in all MySQL distributions enables clients from any distribution to connect to a server that has the server-side PAM plugin loaded.

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to PAM pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. For information about the mysql_clear_password plugin, see Section 6.4.1.6, “Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication”. For proxy user information, see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

How PAM Authentication of MySQL Users Works

This section provides a general overview of how MySQL and PAM work together to authenticate MySQL users. For examples showing how to set up MySQL accounts to use specific PAM services, see Using PAM Pluggable Authentication.

  1. The client program and the server communicate, with the client sending to the server the client user name (the operating system user name by default) and password:

    • The client user name is the external user name.

    • For accounts that use the PAM server-side authentication plugin, the corresponding client-side plugin is mysql_clear_password. This client-side plugin performs no password hashing, with the result that the client sends the password to the server as cleartext.

  2. The server finds a matching MySQL account based on the external user name and the host from which the client connects. The PAM plugin uses the information passed to it by MySQL Server (such as user name, host name, password, and authentication string). When you define a MySQL account that authenticates using PAM, the authentication string contains:

    • A PAM service name, which is a name that the system administrator can use to refer to an authentication method for a particular application. There can be multiple applications associated with a single database server instance, so the choice of service name is left to the SQL application developer.

    • Optionally, if proxying is to be used, a mapping from PAM groups to MySQL user names.

  3. The plugin uses the PAM service named in the authentication string to check the user credentials and returns 'Authentication succeeded, Username is user_name' or 'Authentication failed'. The password must be appropriate for the password store used by the PAM service. Examples:

    • For traditional Unix passwords, the service looks up passwords stored in the /etc/shadow file.

    • For LDAP, the service looks up passwords stored in an LDAP directory.

    If the credentials check fails, the server refuses the connection.

  4. Otherwise, the authentication string indicates whether proxying occurs. If the string contains no PAM group mapping, proxying does not occur. In this case, the MySQL user name is the same as the external user name.

  5. Otherwise, proxying is indicated based on the PAM group mapping, with the MySQL user name determined based on the first matching group in the mapping list. The meaning of PAM group depends on the PAM service. Examples:

    • For traditional Unix passwords, groups are Unix groups defined in the /etc/group file, possibly supplemented with additional PAM information in a file such as /etc/security/group.conf.

    • For LDAP, groups are LDAP groups defined in an LDAP directory.

    If the proxy user (the external user) has the PROXY privilege for the proxied MySQL user name, proxying occurs, with the proxy user assuming the privileges of the proxied user.

Installing PAM Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to install the PAM authentication plugin. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

The plugin library file base name is authentication_pam. The file name suffix differs per platform (for example, .so for Unix and Unix-like systems, .dll for Windows).

To load the plugin at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains it. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=authentication_pam.so

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

INSTALL PLUGIN authentication_pam SONAME 'authentication_pam.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE '%pam%';
+--------------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME        | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+--------------------+---------------+
| authentication_pam | ACTIVE        |
+--------------------+---------------+

If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

To associate MySQL accounts with the PAM plugin, see Using PAM Pluggable Authentication.

Uninstalling PAM Pluggable Authentication

The method used to uninstall the PAM authentication plugin depends on how you installed it:

  • If you installed the plugin at server startup using a --plugin-load-add option, restart the server without the option.

  • If you installed the plugin at runtime using an INSTALL PLUGIN statement, it remains installed across server restarts. To uninstall it, use UNINSTALL PLUGIN:

    UNINSTALL PLUGIN authentication_pam;
Using PAM Pluggable Authentication

This section describes in general terms how to use the PAM authentication plugin to connect from MySQL client programs to the server. The following sections provide instructions for using PAM authentication in specific ways. It is assumed that the server is running with the server-side PAM plugin enabled, as described in Installing PAM Pluggable Authentication.

To refer to the PAM authentication plugin in the IDENTIFIED WITH clause of a CREATE USER statement, use the name authentication_pam. For example:

CREATE USER user
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_pam
  AS 'auth_string';

The authentication string specifies the following types of information:

  • The PAM service name (see How PAM Authentication of MySQL Users Works). Examples in the following discussion use a service name of mysql-unix for authentication using traditional Unix passwords, and mysql-ldap for authentication using LDAP.

  • For proxy support, PAM provides a way for a PAM module to return to the server a MySQL user name other than the external user name passed by the client program when it connects to the server. Use the authentication string to control the mapping from external user names to MySQL user names. If you want to take advantage of proxy user capabilities, the authentication string must include this kind of mapping.

For example, if an account uses the mysql-unix PAM service name and should map operating system users in the root and users PAM groups to the developer and data_entry MySQL users, respectively, use a statement like this:

CREATE USER user
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_pam
  AS 'mysql-unix, root=developer, users=data_entry';

Authentication string syntax for the PAM authentication plugin follows these rules:

  • The string consists of a PAM service name, optionally followed by a PAM group mapping list consisting of one or more keyword/value pairs each specifying a PAM group name and a MySQL user name:

    pam_service_name[,pam_group_name=mysql_user_name]...
    

    The plugin parses the authentication string for each connection attempt that uses the account. To minimize overhead, keep the string as short as possible.

  • Each pam_group_name=mysql_user_name pair must be preceded by a comma.

  • Leading and trailing spaces not inside double quotation marks are ignored.

  • Unquoted pam_service_name, pam_group_name, and mysql_user_name values can contain anything except equal sign, comma, or space.

  • If a pam_service_name, pam_group_name, or mysql_user_name value is quoted with double quotation marks, everything between the quotation marks is part of the value. This is necessary, for example, if the value contains space characters. All characters are legal except double quotation mark and backslash (\). To include either character, escape it with a backslash.

If the plugin successfully authenticates the external user name (the name passed by the client), it looks for a PAM group mapping list in the authentication string and, if present, uses it to return a different MySQL user name to the MySQL server based on which PAM groups the external user is a member of:

  • If the authentication string contains no PAM group mapping list, the plugin returns the external name.

  • If the authentication string does contain a PAM group mapping list, the plugin examines each pam_group_name=mysql_user_name pair in the list from left to right and tries to find a match for the pam_group_name value in a non-MySQL directory of the groups assigned to the authenticated user and returns mysql_user_name for the first match it finds. If the plugin finds no match for any PAM group, it returns the external name. If the plugin is not capable of looking up a group in a directory, it ignores the PAM group mapping list and returns the external name.

The following sections describe how to set up several authentication scenarios that use the PAM authentication plugin:

  • No proxy users. This uses PAM only to check login names and passwords. Every external user permitted to connect to MySQL Server should have a matching MySQL account that is defined to use PAM authentication. (For a MySQL account of 'user_name'@'host_name' to match the external user, user_name must be the external user name and host_name must match the host from which the client connects.) Authentication can be performed by various PAM-supported methods. Later discussion shows how to authenticate client credentials using traditional Unix passwords, and passwords in LDAP.

    PAM authentication, when not done through proxy users or PAM groups, requires the MySQL user name to be same as the operating system user name. MySQL user names are limited to 32 characters (see Section 6.2.3, “Grant Tables”), which limits PAM nonproxy authentication to Unix accounts with names of at most 32 characters.

  • Proxy users only, with PAM group mapping. For this scenario, create one or more MySQL accounts that define different sets of privileges. (Ideally, nobody should connect using those accounts directly.) Then define a default user authenticating through PAM that uses some mapping scheme (usually based on the external PAM groups the users are members of) to map all the external user names to the few MySQL accounts holding the privilege sets. Any client who connects and specifies an external user name as the client user name is mapped to one of the MySQL accounts and uses its privileges. The discussion shows how to set this up using traditional Unix passwords, but other PAM methods such as LDAP could be used instead.

Variations on these scenarios are possible:

  • You can permit some users to log in directly (without proxying) but require others to connect through proxy accounts.

  • You can use one PAM authentication method for some users, and another method for other users, by using differing PAM service names among your PAM-authenticated accounts. For example, you can use the mysql-unix PAM service for some users, and mysql-ldap for others.

The examples make the following assumptions. You might need to make some adjustments if your system is set up differently.

  • The login name and password are antonio and antonio_password, respectively. Change these to correspond to the user you want to authenticate.

  • The PAM configuration directory is /etc/pam.d.

  • The PAM service name corresponds to the authentication method (mysql-unix or mysql-ldap in this discussion). To use a given PAM service, you must set up a PAM file with the same name in the PAM configuration directory (creating the file if it does not exist). In addition, you must name the PAM service in the authentication string of the CREATE USER statement for any account that authenticates using that PAM service.

The PAM authentication plugin checks at initialization time whether the AUTHENTICATION_PAM_LOG environment value is set in the server's startup environment. If so, the plugin enables logging of diagnostic messages to the standard output. Depending on how your server is started, the message might appear on the console or in the error log. These messages can be helpful for debugging PAM-related issues that occur when the plugin performs authentication. For more information, see PAM Authentication Debugging.

PAM Unix Password Authentication without Proxy Users

This authentication scenario uses PAM to check external users defined in terms of operating system user names and Unix passwords, without proxying. Every such external user permitted to connect to MySQL Server should have a matching MySQL account that is defined to use PAM authentication through traditional Unix password store.

Note

Traditional Unix passwords are checked using the /etc/shadow file. For information regarding possible issues related to this file, see PAM Authentication Access to Unix Password Store.

  1. Verify that Unix authentication permits logins to the operating system with the user name antonio and password antonio_password.

  2. Set up PAM to authenticate MySQL connections using traditional Unix passwords by creating a mysql-unix PAM service file named /etc/pam.d/mysql-unix. The file contents are system dependent, so check existing login-related files in the /etc/pam.d directory to see what they look like. On Linux, the mysql-unix file might look like this:

    #%PAM-1.0
    auth            include         password-auth
    account         include         password-auth

    For macOS, use login rather than password-auth.

    The PAM file format might differ on some systems. For example, on Ubuntu and other Debian-based systems, use these file contents instead:

    @include common-auth
    @include common-account
    @include common-session-noninteractive
  3. Create a MySQL account with the same user name as the operating system user name and define it to authenticate using the PAM plugin and the mysql-unix PAM service:

    CREATE USER 'antonio'@'localhost'
      IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_pam
      AS 'mysql-unix';
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES
      ON mydb.*
      TO 'antonio'@'localhost';

    Here, the authentication string contains only the PAM service name, mysql-unix, which authenticates Unix passwords.

  4. Use the mysql command-line client to connect to the MySQL server as antonio. For example:

    shell> mysql --user=antonio --password --enable-cleartext-plugin
    Enter password: antonio_password
    

    The server should permit the connection and the following query returns output as shown:

    mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER(), @@proxy_user;
    +-------------------+-------------------+--------------+
    | USER()            | CURRENT_USER()    | @@proxy_user |
    +-------------------+-------------------+--------------+
    | antonio@localhost | antonio@localhost | NULL         |
    +-------------------+-------------------+--------------+
    

    This demonstrates that the antonio operating system user is authenticated to have the privileges granted to the antonio MySQL user, and that no proxying has occurred.

Note

The client-side mysql_clear_password authentication plugin leaves the password untouched, so client programs send it to the MySQL server as cleartext. This enables the password to be passed as is to PAM. A cleartext password is necessary to use the server-side PAM library, but may be a security problem in some configurations. These measures minimize the risk:

PAM LDAP Authentication without Proxy Users

This authentication scenario uses PAM to check external users defined in terms of operating system user names and LDAP passwords, without proxying. Every such external user permitted to connect to MySQL Server should have a matching MySQL account that is defined to use PAM authentication through LDAP.

To use PAM LDAP pluggable authentication for MySQL, these prerequisites must be satisfied:

  • An LDAP server must be available for the PAM LDAP service to communicate with.

  • LDAP users to be authenticated by MySQL must be present in the directory managed by the LDAP server.

Note

Another way to use LDAP for MySQL user authentication is to use the LDAP-specific authentication plugins. See Section 6.4.1.9, “LDAP Pluggable Authentication”.

Configure MySQL for PAM LDAP authentication as follows:

  1. Verify that Unix authentication permits logins to the operating system with the user name antonio and password antonio_password.

  2. Set up PAM to authenticate MySQL connections using LDAP by creating a mysql-ldap PAM service file named /etc/pam.d/mysql-ldap. The file contents are system dependent, so check existing login-related files in the /etc/pam.d directory to see what they look like. On Linux, the mysql-ldap file might look like this:

    #%PAM-1.0
    auth        required    pam_ldap.so
    account     required    pam_ldap.so

    If PAM object files have a suffix different from .so on your system, substitute the correct suffix.

    The PAM file format might differ on some systems.

  3. Create a MySQL account with the same user name as the operating system user name and define it to authenticate using the PAM plugin and the mysql-ldap PAM service:

    CREATE USER 'antonio'@'localhost'
      IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_pam
      AS 'mysql-ldap';
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES
      ON mydb.*
      TO 'antonio'@'localhost';

    Here, the authentication string contains only the PAM service name, mysql-ldap, which authenticates using LDAP.

  4. Connecting to the server is the same as described in PAM Unix Password Authentication without Proxy Users.

PAM Unix Password Authentication with Proxy Users and Group Mapping

The authentication scheme described here uses proxying and PAM group mapping to map connecting MySQL users who authenticate using PAM onto other MySQL accounts that define different sets of privileges. Users do not connect directly through the accounts that define the privileges. Instead, they connect through a default proxy account authenticated using PAM, such that all the external users are mapped to the MySQL accounts that hold the privileges. Any user who connects using the proxy account is mapped to one of those MySQL accounts, the privileges for which determine the database operations permitted to the external user.

The procedure shown here uses Unix password authentication. To use LDAP instead, see the early steps of PAM LDAP Authentication without Proxy Users.

Note

Traditional Unix passwords are checked using the /etc/shadow file. For information regarding possible issues related to this file, see PAM Authentication Access to Unix Password Store.

  1. Verify that Unix authentication permits logins to the operating system with the user name antonio and password antonio_password.

  2. Verify that antonio is a member of the root or users PAM group.

  3. Set up PAM to authenticate the mysql-unix PAM service through operating system users by creating a file named /etc/pam.d/mysql-unix. The file contents are system dependent, so check existing login-related files in the /etc/pam.d directory to see what they look like. On Linux, the mysql-unix file might look like this:

    #%PAM-1.0
    auth            include         password-auth
    account         include         password-auth

    For macOS, use login rather than password-auth.

    The PAM file format might differ on some systems. For example, on Ubuntu and other Debian-based systems, use these file contents instead:

    @include common-auth
    @include common-account
    @include common-session-noninteractive
  4. Create a default proxy user (''@'') that maps external PAM users to the proxied accounts:

    CREATE USER ''@''
      IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_pam
      AS 'mysql-unix, root=developer, users=data_entry';

    Here, the authentication string contains the PAM service name, mysql-unix, which authenticates Unix passwords. The authentication string also maps external users in the root and users PAM groups to the developer and data_entry MySQL user names, respectively.

    The PAM group mapping list following the PAM service name is required when you set up proxy users. Otherwise, the plugin cannot tell how to perform mapping from external user names to the proper proxied MySQL user names.

    Note

    If your MySQL installation has anonymous users, they might conflict with the default proxy user. For more information about this issue, and ways of dealing with it, see Default Proxy User and Anonymous User Conflicts.

  5. Create the proxied accounts and grant to them the privileges required for MySQL access:

    CREATE USER 'developer'@'localhost'
      IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
    CREATE USER 'data_entry'@'localhost'
      IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
    
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES
      ON mydevdb.*
      TO 'developer'@'localhost';
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES
      ON mydb.*
      TO 'data_entry'@'localhost';

    The proxied accounts use the mysql_no_login authentication plugin to prevent clients from using the accounts to log in directly to the MySQL server. Instead, it is expected that users who authenticate using PAM will use the developer or data_entry account by proxy based on their PAM group. (This assumes that the plugin is installed. For instructions, see Section 6.4.1.10, “No-Login Pluggable Authentication”.) For alternative methods of protecting proxied accounts against direct use, see Preventing Direct Login to Proxied Accounts.

  6. Grant to the proxy account the PROXY privilege for each proxied account:

    GRANT PROXY
      ON 'developer'@'localhost'
      TO ''@'';
    GRANT PROXY
      ON 'data_entry'@'localhost'
      TO ''@'';
  7. Use the mysql command-line client to connect to the MySQL server as antonio.

    shell> mysql --user=antonio --password --enable-cleartext-plugin
    Enter password: antonio_password
    

    The server authenticates the connection using the default ''@'' proxy account. The resulting privileges for antonio depend on which PAM groups antonio is a member of. If antonio is a member of the root PAM group, the PAM plugin maps root to the developer MySQL user name and returns that name to the server. The server verifies that ''@'' has the PROXY privilege for developer and permits the connection. The following query returns output as shown:

    mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER(), @@proxy_user;
    +-------------------+---------------------+--------------+
    | USER()            | CURRENT_USER()      | @@proxy_user |
    +-------------------+---------------------+--------------+
    | antonio@localhost | developer@localhost | ''@''        |
    +-------------------+---------------------+--------------+
    

    This demonstrates that the antonio operating system user is authenticated to have the privileges granted to the developer MySQL user, and that proxying occurs through the default proxy account.

    If antonio is not a member of the root PAM group but is a member of the users PAM group, a similar process occurs, but the plugin maps user PAM group membership to the data_entry MySQL user name and returns that name to the server:

    mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER(), @@proxy_user;
    +-------------------+----------------------+--------------+
    | USER()            | CURRENT_USER()       | @@proxy_user |
    +-------------------+----------------------+--------------+
    | antonio@localhost | data_entry@localhost | ''@''        |
    +-------------------+----------------------+--------------+
    

    This demonstrates that the antonio operating system user is authenticated to have the privileges of the data_entry MySQL user, and that proxying occurs through the default proxy account.

Note

The client-side mysql_clear_password authentication plugin leaves the password untouched, so client programs send it to the MySQL server as cleartext. This enables the password to be passed as is to PAM. A cleartext password is necessary to use the server-side PAM library, but may be a security problem in some configurations. These measures minimize the risk:

PAM Authentication Access to Unix Password Store

On some systems, Unix authentication uses a password store such as /etc/shadow, a file that typically has restricted access permissions. This can cause MySQL PAM-based authentication to fail. Unfortunately, the PAM implementation does not permit distinguishing password could not be checked (due, for example, to inability to read /etc/shadow) from password does not match. If you are using Unix password store for PAM authentication, you may be able to enable access to it from MySQL using one of the following methods:

  • Assuming that the MySQL server is run from the mysql operating system account, put that account in the shadow group that has /etc/shadow access:

    1. Create a shadow group in /etc/group.

    2. Add the mysql operating system user to the shadow group in /etc/group.

    3. Assign /etc/group to the shadow group and enable the group read permission:

      chgrp shadow /etc/shadow
      chmod g+r /etc/shadow
    4. Restart the MySQL server.

  • If you are using the pam_unix module and the unix_chkpwd utility, enable password store access as follows:

    chmod u-s /usr/sbin/unix_chkpwd
    setcap cap_dac_read_search+ep /usr/sbin/unix_chkpwd

    Adjust the path to unix_chkpwd as necessary for your platform.

PAM Authentication Debugging

The PAM authentication plugin checks at initialization time whether the AUTHENTICATION_PAM_LOG environment value is set (the value does not matter). If so, the plugin enables logging of diagnostic messages to the standard output. These messages may be helpful for debugging PAM-related issues that occur when the plugin performs authentication.

Some messages include reference to PAM plugin source files and line numbers, which enables plugin actions to be tied more closely to the location in the code where they occur.

Another technique for debugging connection failures and determining what is happening during connection attempts is to configure PAM authentication to permit all connections, then check the system log files. This technique should be used only on a temporary basis, and not on a production server.

Configure a PAM service file named /etc/pam.d/mysql-any-password with these contents (the format may differ on some systems):

#%PAM-1.0
auth        required    pam_permit.so
account     required    pam_permit.so

Create an account that uses the PAM plugin and names the mysql-any-password PAM service:

CREATE USER 'testuser'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_pam
  AS 'mysql-any-password';

The mysql-any-password service file causes any authentication attempt to return true, even for incorrect passwords. If an authentication attempt fails, that tells you the configuration problem is on the MySQL side. Otherwise, the problem is on the operating system/PAM side. To see what might be happening, check system log files such as /var/log/secure, /var/log/audit.log, /var/log/syslog, or /var/log/messages.

After determining what the problem is, remove the mysql-any-password PAM service file to disable any-password access.

6.4.1.8 Windows Pluggable Authentication

Note

Windows pluggable authentication is an extension included in MySQL Enterprise Edition, a commercial product. To learn more about commercial products, see https://www.mysql.com/products/.

MySQL Enterprise Edition for Windows supports an authentication method that performs external authentication on Windows, enabling MySQL Server to use native Windows services to authenticate client connections. Users who have logged in to Windows can connect from MySQL client programs to the server based on the information in their environment without specifying an additional password.

The client and server exchange data packets in the authentication handshake. As a result of this exchange, the server creates a security context object that represents the identity of the client in the Windows OS. This identity includes the name of the client account. Windows pluggable authentication uses the identity of the client to check whether it is a given account or a member of a group. By default, negotiation uses Kerberos to authenticate, then NTLM if Kerberos is unavailable.

Windows pluggable authentication provides these capabilities:

  • External authentication: Windows authentication enables MySQL Server to accept connections from users defined outside the MySQL grant tables who have logged in to Windows.

  • Proxy user support: Windows authentication can return to MySQL a user name different from the external user name passed by the client program. This means that the plugin can return the MySQL user that defines the privileges the external Windows-authenticated user should have. For example, a Windows user named joe can connect and have the privileges of a MySQL user named developer.

The following table shows the plugin and library file names. The file must be located in the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable.

Table 6.14 Plugin and Library Names for Windows Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin authentication_windows
Client-side plugin authentication_windows_client
Library file authentication_windows.dll

The library file includes only the server-side plugin. The client-side plugin is built into the libmysqlclient client library.

The server-side Windows authentication plugin is included only in MySQL Enterprise Edition. It is not included in MySQL community distributions. The client-side plugin is included in all distributions, including community distributions. This permits clients from any distribution to connect to a server that has the server-side plugin loaded.

The Windows authentication plugin is supported on any version of Windows supported by MySQL 5.7 (see https://www.mysql.com/support/supportedplatforms/database.html).

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to Windows pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. For proxy user information, see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

Installing Windows Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to install the Windows authentication plugin. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

To load the plugin at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains it. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file:

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=authentication_windows.dll

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement:

INSTALL PLUGIN authentication_windows SONAME 'authentication_windows.dll';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE '%windows%';
+------------------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME            | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+------------------------+---------------+
| authentication_windows | ACTIVE        |
+------------------------+---------------+

If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

To associate MySQL accounts with the Windows authentication plugin, see Using Windows Pluggable Authentication. Additional plugin control is provided by the authentication_windows_use_principal_name and authentication_windows_log_level system variables. See Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”.

Uninstalling Windows Pluggable Authentication

The method used to uninstall the Windows authentication plugin depends on how you installed it:

  • If you installed the plugin at server startup using a --plugin-load-add option, restart the server without the option.

  • If you installed the plugin at runtime using an INSTALL PLUGIN statement, it remains installed across server restarts. To uninstall it, use UNINSTALL PLUGIN:

    UNINSTALL PLUGIN authentication_windows;

In addition, remove any startup options that set Windows plugin-related system variables.

Using Windows Pluggable Authentication

The Windows authentication plugin supports the use of MySQL accounts such that users who have logged in to Windows can connect to the MySQL server without having to specify an additional password. It is assumed that the server is running with the server-side plugin enabled, as described in Installing Windows Pluggable Authentication. Once the DBA has enabled the server-side plugin and set up accounts to use it, clients can connect using those accounts with no other setup required on their part.

To refer to the Windows authentication plugin in the IDENTIFIED WITH clause of a CREATE USER statement, use the name authentication_windows. Suppose that the Windows users Rafal and Tasha should be permitted to connect to MySQL, as well as any users in the Administrators or Power Users group. To set this up, create a MySQL account named sql_admin that uses the Windows plugin for authentication:

CREATE USER sql_admin
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_windows
  AS 'Rafal, Tasha, Administrators, "Power Users"';

The plugin name is authentication_windows. The string following the AS keyword is the authentication string. It specifies that the Windows users named Rafal or Tasha are permitted to authenticate to the server as the MySQL user sql_admin, as are any Windows users in the Administrators or Power Users group. The latter group name contains a space, so it must be quoted with double quote characters.

After you create the sql_admin account, a user who has logged in to Windows can attempt to connect to the server using that account:

C:\> mysql --user=sql_admin

No password is required here. The authentication_windows plugin uses the Windows security API to check which Windows user is connecting. If that user is named Rafal or Tasha, or is a member of the Administrators or Power Users group, the server grants access and the client is authenticated as sql_admin and has whatever privileges are granted to the sql_admin account. Otherwise, the server denies access.

Authentication string syntax for the Windows authentication plugin follows these rules:

  • The string consists of one or more user mappings separated by commas.

  • Each user mapping associates a Windows user or group name with a MySQL user name:

    win_user_or_group_name=mysql_user_name
    win_user_or_group_name
    

    For the latter syntax, with no mysql_user_name value given, the implicit value is the MySQL user created by the CREATE USER statement. Thus, these statements are equivalent:

    CREATE USER sql_admin
      IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_windows
      AS 'Rafal, Tasha, Administrators, "Power Users"';
    
    CREATE USER sql_admin
      IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_windows
      AS 'Rafal=sql_admin, Tasha=sql_admin, Administrators=sql_admin,
          "Power Users"=sql_admin';
  • Each backslash character (\) in a value must be doubled because backslash is the escape character in MySQL strings.

  • Leading and trailing spaces not inside double quotation marks are ignored.

  • Unquoted win_user_or_group_name and mysql_user_name values can contain anything except equal sign, comma, or space.

  • If a win_user_or_group_name and or mysql_user_name value is quoted with double quotation marks, everything between the quotation marks is part of the value. This is necessary, for example, if the name contains space characters. All characters within double quotes are legal except double quotation mark and backslash. To include either character, escape it with a backslash.

  • win_user_or_group_name values use conventional syntax for Windows principals, either local or in a domain. Examples (note the doubling of backslashes):

    domain\\user
    .\\user
    domain\\group
    .\\group
    BUILTIN\\WellKnownGroup

When invoked by the server to authenticate a client, the plugin scans the authentication string left to right for a user or group match to the Windows user. If there is a match, the plugin returns the corresponding mysql_user_name to the MySQL server. If there is no match, authentication fails.

A user name match takes preference over a group name match. Suppose that the Windows user named win_user is a member of win_group and the authentication string looks like this:

'win_group = sql_user1, win_user = sql_user2'

When win_user connects to the MySQL server, there is a match both to win_group and to win_user. The plugin authenticates the user as sql_user2 because the more-specific user match takes precedence over the group match, even though the group is listed first in the authentication string.

Windows authentication always works for connections from the same computer on which the server is running. For cross-computer connections, both computers must be registered with Windows Active Directory. If they are in the same Windows domain, it is unnecessary to specify a domain name. It is also possible to permit connections from a different domain, as in this example:

CREATE USER sql_accounting
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_windows
  AS 'SomeDomain\\Accounting';

Here SomeDomain is the name of the other domain. The backslash character is doubled because it is the MySQL escape character within strings.

MySQL supports the concept of proxy users whereby a client can connect and authenticate to the MySQL server using one account but while connected has the privileges of another account (see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”). Suppose that you want Windows users to connect using a single user name but be mapped based on their Windows user and group names onto specific MySQL accounts as follows:

  • The local_user and MyDomain\domain_user local and domain Windows users should map to the local_wlad MySQL account.

  • Users in the MyDomain\Developers domain group should map to the local_dev MySQL account.

  • Local machine administrators should map to the local_admin MySQL account.

To set this up, create a proxy account for Windows users to connect to, and configure this account so that users and groups map to the appropriate MySQL accounts (local_wlad, local_dev, local_admin). In addition, grant the MySQL accounts the privileges appropriate to the operations they need to perform. The following instructions use win_proxy as the proxy account, and local_wlad, local_dev, and local_admin as the proxied accounts.

  1. Create the proxy MySQL account:

    CREATE USER win_proxy
      IDENTIFIED WITH  authentication_windows
      AS 'local_user = local_wlad,
          MyDomain\\domain_user = local_wlad,
          MyDomain\\Developers = local_dev,
          BUILTIN\\Administrators = local_admin';
  2. For proxying to work, the proxied accounts must exist, so create them:

    CREATE USER local_wlad
      IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
    CREATE USER local_dev
      IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
    CREATE USER local_admin
      IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;

    The proxied accounts use the mysql_no_login authentication plugin to prevent clients from using the accounts to log in directly to the MySQL server. Instead, it is expected that users who authenticate using Windows will use the win_proxy proxy account. (This assumes that the plugin is installed. For instructions, see Section 6.4.1.10, “No-Login Pluggable Authentication”.) For alternative methods of protecting proxied accounts against direct use, see Preventing Direct Login to Proxied Accounts.

    You should also execute GRANT statements (not shown) that grant each proxied account the privileges required for MySQL access.

  3. Grant to the proxy account the PROXY privilege for each proxied account:

    GRANT PROXY ON local_wlad TO win_proxy;
    GRANT PROXY ON local_dev TO win_proxy;
    GRANT PROXY ON local_admin TO win_proxy;

Now the Windows users local_user and MyDomain\domain_user can connect to the MySQL server as win_proxy and when authenticated have the privileges of the account given in the authentication string (in this case, local_wlad). A user in the MyDomain\Developers group who connects as win_proxy has the privileges of the local_dev account. A user in the BUILTIN\Administrators group has the privileges of the local_admin account.

To configure authentication so that all Windows users who do not have their own MySQL account go through a proxy account, substitute the default proxy account (''@'') for win_proxy in the preceding instructions. For information about default proxy accounts, see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

Note

If your MySQL installation has anonymous users, they might conflict with the default proxy user. For more information about this issue, and ways of dealing with it, see Default Proxy User and Anonymous User Conflicts.

To use the Windows authentication plugin with Connector/NET connection strings in Connector/NET 6.4.4 and higher, see Using the Windows Native Authentication Plugin.

6.4.1.9 LDAP Pluggable Authentication

Note

LDAP pluggable authentication is an extension included in MySQL Enterprise Edition, a commercial product. To learn more about commercial products, see https://www.mysql.com/products/.

As of MySQL 5.7.19, MySQL Enterprise Edition supports an authentication method that enables MySQL Server to use LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) to authenticate MySQL users by accessing directory services such as X.500. MySQL uses LDAP to fetch user, credential, and group information.

LDAP pluggable authentication provides these capabilities:

  • External authentication: LDAP authentication enables MySQL Server to accept connections from users defined outside the MySQL grant tables in LDAP directories.

  • Proxy user support: LDAP authentication can return to MySQL a user name different from the external user name passed by the client program, based on the LDAP groups the external user is a member of. This means that an LDAP plugin can return the MySQL user that defines the privileges the external LDAP-authenticated user should have. For example, an LDAP user named joe can connect and have the privileges of a MySQL user named developer, if the LDAP group for joe is developer.

  • Security: Using TLS, connections to the LDAP server can be secure.

The following tables show the plugin and library file names for simple and SASL-based LDAP authentication. The file name suffix might differ on your system. The files must be located in the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable.

Table 6.15 Plugin and Library Names for Simple LDAP Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin name authentication_ldap_simple
Client-side plugin name mysql_clear_password
Library file name authentication_ldap_simple.so

Table 6.16 Plugin and Library Names for SASL-Based LDAP Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin name authentication_ldap_sasl
Client-side plugin name authentication_ldap_sasl_client
Library file names authentication_ldap_sasl.so, authentication_ldap_sasl_client.so

The library files include only the authentication_ldap_XXX authentication plugins. The client-side mysql_clear_password plugin is built into the libmysqlclient client library.

Each server-side LDAP plugin works with a specific client-side plugin:

  • The server-side authentication_ldap_simple plugin performs simple LDAP authentication. For connections by accounts that use this plugin, client programs use the client-side mysql_clear_password plugin, which sends the password to the server as cleartext. No password hashing or encryption is used, so a secure connection between the MySQL client and server is recommended to prevent password exposure.

  • The server-side authentication_ldap_sasl plugin performs SASL-based LDAP authentication. For connections by accounts that use this plugin, client programs use the client-side authentication_ldap_sasl_client plugin. The client-side and server-side SASL LDAP plugins use SASL messages for secure transmission of credentials within the LDAP protocol, to avoid sending the cleartext password between the MySQL client and server.

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to LDAP pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. For information about the mysql_clear_password plugin, see Section 6.4.1.6, “Client-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authentication”. For proxy user information, see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

Note

If your system supports PAM and permits LDAP as a PAM authentication method, another way to use LDAP for MySQL user authentication is to use the server-side authentication_pam plugin. See Section 6.4.1.7, “PAM Pluggable Authentication”.

Prerequisites for LDAP Pluggable Authentication

To use LDAP pluggable authentication for MySQL, these prerequisites must be satisfied:

  • An LDAP server must be available for the LDAP authentication plugins to communicate with.

  • LDAP users to be authenticated by MySQL must be present in the directory managed by the LDAP server.

  • An LDAP client library must be available on systems where the server-side authentication_ldap_sasl or authentication_ldap_simple plugin is used. Currently, supported libraries are the Windows native LDAP library, or the OpenLDAP library on non-Windows systems.

  • To use SASL-based LDAP authentication:

    • The LDAP server must be configured to communicate with a SASL server.

    • A SASL client library must be is available on systems where the client-side authentication_ldap_sasl_client plugin is used. Currently, the only supported library is the Cyrus SASL library.

How LDAP Authentication of MySQL Users Works

This section provides a general overview of how MySQL and LDAP work together to authenticate MySQL users. For examples showing how to set up MySQL accounts to use specific LDAP authentication plugins, see Using LDAP Pluggable Authentication.

The client connects to the MySQL server, providing the MySQL client user name and the LDAP password:

  • For simple LDAP authentication, the client-side and server-side plugins communicate the password as cleartext.

  • For SASL-based LDAP authentication, the client-side and server-side plugins use SASL messages for secure transmission of credentials within the LDAP protocol, to avoid sending the cleartext password between the MySQL client and server.

If the client user name and host name match no MySQL account, the connection is rejected.

If there is a matching MySQL account, authentication against LDAP occurs. The LDAP server looks for an entry matching the user and authenticates the entry against the LDAP password:

  • If the MySQL account names an the LDAP user distinguished name (DN), LDAP authentication uses that value and the LDAP password provided by the client. (To associate an LDAP user DN with a MySQL account, include a BY clause that specifies an authentication string in the CREATE USER statement that creates the account.)

  • If the MySQL account names no LDAP user DN, LDAP authentication uses the user name and LDAP password provided by the client. In this case, the authentication plugin first binds to the LDAP server using the root DN and password as credentials to find the user DN based on the client user name, then authenticates that user DN against the LDAP password. This bind using the root credentials fails if the root DN and password are set to incorrect values, or are empty (not set) and the LDAP server does not permit anonymous connections.

If the LDAP server finds no match or multiple matches, authentication fails and the client connection is rejected.

If the LDAP server finds a single match, LDAP authentication succeeds (assuming that the password is correct), the LDAP server returns the LDAP entry, and the authentication plugin determines the name of the authenticated user based on that entry:

  • If the LDAP entry has a group attribute (by default, the cn attribute), the plugin returns its value as the authenticated user name.

  • If the LDAP entry has no group attribute, the authentication plugin returns the client user name as the authenticated user name.

The MySQL server compares the client user name with the authenticated user name to determine whether proxying occurs for the client session:

  • If the names are the same, no proxying occurs: The MySQL account matching the client user name is used for privilege checking.

  • If the names differ, proxying occurs: MySQL looks for an account matching the authenticated user name. That account becomes the proxied user, which is used for privilege checking. The MySQL account that matched the client user name is treated as the external proxy user.

Installing LDAP Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to install the LDAP authentication plugins. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library files must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

The server-side plugin library file base names are authentication_ldap_simple and authentication_ldap_sasl. The file name suffix differs per platform (for example, .so for Unix and Unix-like systems, .dll for Windows).

To load the plugins at server startup, use --plugin-load-add options to name the library files that contain them. With this plugin-loading method, the options must be given each time the server starts. Also, specify values for any plugin-provided system variables you wish to configure.

Each server-side LDAP plugin exposes a set of system variables that enable its operation to be configured. Setting most of these is optional, but you must set the variables that specify the LDAP server host (so the plugin knows where to connect) and base distinguished name for LDAP bind operations (to limit the scope of searches and obtain faster searches). For details about all LDAP system variables, see Section 6.4.1.13, “Pluggable Authentication System Variables”.

To load the plugins and set the LDAP server host and base distinguished name for LDAP bind operations, put lines such as these in your my.cnf file (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=authentication_ldap_simple.so
authentication_ldap_simple_server_host=127.0.0.1
authentication_ldap_simple_bind_base_dn="dc=example,dc=com"
plugin-load-add=authentication_ldap_sasl.so
authentication_ldap_sasl_server_host=127.0.0.1
authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_base_dn="dc=example,dc=com"

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugins at runtime, use these statements (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

INSTALL PLUGIN authentication_ldap_simple
  SONAME 'authentication_ldap_simple.so';
INSTALL PLUGIN authentication_ldap_sasl
  SONAME 'authentication_ldap_sasl.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

After installing the plugins at runtime, their system variables become available and you can add settings for them to your my.cnf file to configure the plugins for subsequent restarts. For example:

[mysqld]
authentication_ldap_simple_server_host=127.0.0.1
authentication_ldap_simple_bind_base_dn="dc=example,dc=com"
authentication_ldap_sasl_server_host=127.0.0.1
authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_base_dn="dc=example,dc=com"

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE '%ldap%';
+----------------------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME                | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+----------------------------+---------------+
| authentication_ldap_sasl   | ACTIVE        |
| authentication_ldap_simple | ACTIVE        |
+----------------------------+---------------+

If a plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

To associate MySQL accounts with an LDAP plugin, see Using LDAP Pluggable Authentication.

Additional Notes for SELinux

On systems running EL6 or EL that have SELinux enabled, changes to the SELinux policy are required to enable the MySQL LDAP plugins to communicate with the LDAP service:

  1. Create a file mysqlldap.te with these contents:

    module mysqlldap 1.0;
    
    require {
            type ldap_port_t;
            type mysqld_t;
            class tcp_socket name_connect;
    }
    
    #============= mysqld_t ==============
    
    allow mysqld_t ldap_port_t:tcp_socket name_connect;
  2. Compile the security policy module into a binary representation:

    checkmodule -M -m mysqlldap.te -o mysqlldap.mod
  3. Create an SELinux policy module package:

    semodule_package -m mysqlldap.mod  -o mysqlldap.pp
  4. Install the module package:

    semodule -i mysqlldap.pp
  5. When the SELinux policy changes have been made, restart the MySQL server:

    service mysqld restart
Uninstalling LDAP Pluggable Authentication

The method used to uninstall the LDAP authentication plugins depends on how you installed them:

  • If you installed the plugins at server startup using --plugin-load-add options, restart the server without those options.

  • If you installed the plugins at runtime using INSTALL PLUGIN, they remain installed across server restarts. To uninstall them, use UNINSTALL PLUGIN:

    UNINSTALL PLUGIN authentication_ldap_simple;
    UNINSTALL PLUGIN authentication_ldap_sasl;

In addition, remove from your my.cnf file any startup options that set LDAP plugin-related system variables.

Using LDAP Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to enable MySQL accounts to connect to the MySQL server using LDAP pluggable authentication. It is assumed that the server is running with the appropriate server-side plugins enabled, as described in Installing LDAP Pluggable Authentication, and that the appropriate client-side plugins are available on the client host.

This section does not describe LDAP configuration or administration. It is assumed that you are familiar with those topics.

The two server-side LDAP plugins each work with a specific client-side plugin:

  • The server-side authentication_ldap_simple plugin performs simple LDAP authentication. For connections by accounts that use this plugin, client programs use the client-side mysql_clear_password plugin, which sends the password to the server as cleartext. No password hashing or encryption is used, so a secure connection between the MySQL client and server is recommended to prevent password exposure.

  • The server-side authentication_ldap_sasl plugin performs SASL-based LDAP authentication. For connections by accounts that use this plugin, client programs use the client-side authentication_ldap_sasl_client plugin. The client-side and server-side SASL LDAP plugins use SASL messages for secure transmission of credentials within the LDAP protocol, to avoid sending the cleartext password between the MySQL client and server.

Overall requirements for LDAP authentication of MySQL users:

  • There must be an LDAP directory entry for each user to be authenticated.

  • There must be a MySQL user account that specifies a server-side LDAP authentication plugin and optionally names the associated LDAP user distinguished name (DN). (To associate an LDAP user DN with a MySQL account, include a BY clause in the CREATE USER statement that creates the account.) If an account names no LDAP string, LDAP authentication uses the user name specified by the client to find the LDAP entry.

  • Client programs connect using the connection method appropriate for the server-side authentication plugin the MySQL account uses. For LDAP authentication, connections require the MySQL user name and LDAP password. In addition, for accounts that use the server-side authentication_ldap_simple plugin, invoke client programs with the --enable-cleartext-plugin option to enable the client-side mysql_clear_password plugin.

The instructions here assume the following scenario:

  • MySQL users betsy and boris authenticate to the LDAP entries for betsy_ldap and boris_ldap, respectively. (It is not necessary that the MySQL and LDAP user names differ. The use of different names in this discussion helps clarify whether an operation context is MySQL or LDAP.)

  • LDAP entries use the uid attribute to specify user names. This may vary depending on LDAP server. Some LDAP servers use the cn attribute for user names rather than uid. To change the attribute, modify the authentication_ldap_simple_user_search_attr or authentication_ldap_sasl_user_search_attr system variable appropriately.

  • These LDAP entries are available in the directory managed by the LDAP server, to provide distinguished name values that uniquely identify each user:

    uid=betsy_ldap,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
    uid=boris_ldap,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
  • CREATE USER statements that create MySQL accounts name an LDAP user in the BY clause, to indicate which LDAP entry the MySQL account authenticates against.

The instructions for setting up an account that uses LDAP authentication depend on which server-side LDAP plugin is used. The following sections describe several usage scenarios.

Simple LDAP Authentication

To configure a MySQL account for simple LDAP authentication, the CREATE USER statement specifies the authentication_ldap_simple plugin, and optionally names the LDAP user distinguished name (DN):

CREATE USER user
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_simple
  [BY 'LDAP user DN'];

Suppose that MySQL user betsy has this entry in the LDAP directory:

uid=betsy_ldap,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com

Then the statement to create the MySQL account for betsy looks like this:

CREATE USER 'betsy'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_simple
  AS 'uid=betsy_ldap,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com';

The authentication string specified in the BY clause does not include the LDAP password. That must be provided by the client user at connect time.

Clients connect to the MySQL server by providing the MySQL user name and LDAP password, and by enabling the client-side mysql_clear_password plugin:

shell> mysql --user=betsy --password --enable-cleartext-plugin
Enter password: betsy_password (betsy_ldap LDAP password)
Note

The client-side mysql_clear_password authentication plugin leaves the password untouched, so client programs send it to the MySQL server as cleartext. This enables the password to be passed as is to the LDAP server. A cleartext password is necessary to use the server-side LDAP library without SASL, but may be a security problem in some configurations. These measures minimize the risk:

The authentication process occurs as follows:

  1. The client-side plugin sends betsy and betsy_password as the client user name and LDAP password to the MySQL server.

  2. The connection attempt matches the 'betsy'@'localhost' account. The server-side LDAP plugin finds that this account has an authentication string of 'uid=betsy_ldap,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com' to name the LDAP user DN. The plugin sends this string and the LDAP password to the LDAP server.

  3. The LDAP server finds the LDAP entry for betsy_ldap and the password matches, so LDAP authentication succeeds.

  4. The LDAP entry has no group attribute, so the server-side plugin returns the client user name (betsy) as the authenticated user. This is the same user name supplied by the client, so no proxying occurs and the client session uses the 'betsy'@'localhost' account for privilege checking.

Had the matching LDAP entry contained a group attribute, that attribute value would have been the authenticated user name and, if the value differed from betsy, proxying would have occurred. For examples that use the group attribute, see LDAP Authentication with Proxying.

Had the CREATE USER statement contained no BY clause to specify the betsy_ldap LDAP distinguished name, authentication attempts would use the user name provided by the client (in this case, betsy). In the absence of an LDAP entry for betsy, authentication would fail.

SASL-Based LDAP Authentication

To configure a MySQL account for SASL LDAP authentication, the CREATE USER statement specifies the authentication_ldap_sasl plugin, and optionally names the LDAP user distinguished name (DN):

CREATE USER user
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_sasl
  [BY 'LDAP user DN'];

Suppose that MySQL user boris has this entry in the LDAP directory:

uid=boris_ldap,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com

Then the statement to create the MySQL account for boris looks like this:

CREATE USER 'boris'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_sasl
  AS 'uid=boris_ldap,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com';

The authentication string specified in the BY clause does not include the LDAP password. That must be provided by the client user at connect time.

Clients connect to the MySQL server by providing the MySQL user name and LDAP password:

shell> mysql --user=boris --password
Enter password: boris_password (boris_ldap LDAP password)

For the server-side authentication_ldap_sasl plugin, clients use the client-side authentication_ldap_sasl_client plugin. If a client program does not find the client-side plugin, specify a --plugin-dir option that names the directory where the plugin library file is installed.

The authentication process for boris is similar to that previously described for betsy with simple LDAP authentication, except that the client-side and server-side SASL LDAP plugins use SASL messages for secure transmission of credentials within the LDAP protocol, to avoid sending the cleartext password between the MySQL client and server.

LDAP Authentication User DN Suffixes

As of MySQL 5.7.21, LDAP authentication plugins permit the authentication string that provides user DN information to begin with a + prefix character:

  • In the absence of a + character, the authentication string value is treated as is without modification.

  • If the authentication string begins with +, the plugin constructs the full user DN value from the user name sent by the client, together with the DN specified in the authentication string (with the + removed). In the constructed DN, the client user name becomes the value of the attribute that specifies LDAP user names. This is uid by default; to change the attribute, modify the authentication_ldap_simple_user_search_attr or authentication_ldap_sasl_user_search_attr system variable appropriately. The authentication string is stored as given in the mysql.user system table, with the full user DN constructed on the fly before authentication.

This account authentication string does not have + at the beginning, so it is taken as the full user DN:

CREATE USER 'baldwin'
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_simple
  AS 'uid=admin,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com';

The client connects with the user name specified in the account (baldwin). In this case, that name is not used because the authentication string has no prefix and thus fully specifies the user DN.

This account authentication string does have + at the beginning, so it is taken as just part of the user DN:

CREATE USER 'accounting'
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_simple
  AS '+ou=People,dc=example,dc=com';

The client connects with the user name specified in the account (accounting), which in this case is used as the uid attribute together with the authentication string to construct the user DN: uid=accounting,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com

The accounts in the preceding examples have a nonempty user name, so the client always connects to the MySQL server using the same name as specified in the account definition. If an account has an empty user name, such as the default anonymous ''@'%' proxy account described in LDAP Authentication with Proxying, clients might connect to the MySQL server with varying user names. But the principle is the same: If the authentication string begins with +, the plugin uses the user name sent by the client together with the authentication string to construct the user DN.

LDAP Authentication with Proxying

LDAP authentication plugins support proxying, enabling a user to connect to the MySQL server as one user but assume the privileges of a different user. This section describes basic LDAP plugin proxy support. The LDAP plugins also support specification of group preference and proxy user mapping; see LDAP Authentication Group Preference and Mapping Specification.

The authentication scheme described here uses proxying based on mapping LDAP group attribute values to connecting MySQL users who authenticate using LDAP onto other MySQL accounts that define different sets of privileges. Users do not connect directly through the accounts that define the privileges. Instead, they connect through a default proxy account authenticated with LDAP, such that all the external logins are mapped to the MySQL accounts that hold the privileges. Any user who connects using the proxy account is mapped to one of those MySQL accounts, the privileges for which determine the database operations permitted to the external user.

The instructions here assume the following scenario:

  • LDAP entries use the uid and cn attributes to specify user name and group values, respectively. To use different user and group attribute names, set the appropriate system variables to configure the plugin:

  • These LDAP entries are available in the directory managed by the LDAP server, to provide distinguished name values that uniquely identify each user:

    uid=basha,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com,cn=accounting
    uid=basil,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com,cn=front_office

    The group attribute values will become the authenticated user names, so they name the accounting and front_office proxied accounts.

  • The examples assume use of SASL LDAP authentication. Make the appropriate adjustments for simple LDAP authentication.

Create the default proxy MySQL account:

CREATE USER ''@'%'
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_simple;

The proxy account definition has no AS 'auth_string' clause to name an LDAP user DN. Thus:

  • When a client connects, the client user name is used as the LDAP user name to search for.

  • The matching LDAP entry is expected to include a group attribute naming the proxied MySQL account that defines the privileges the client should have.

Note

If your MySQL installation has anonymous users, they might conflict with the default proxy user. For more information about this issue, and ways of dealing with it, see Default Proxy User and Anonymous User Conflicts.

Create the proxied accounts and grant to them the privileges required for MySQL access:

CREATE USER 'accounting'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
CREATE USER 'front_office'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES
  ON accountingdb.*
  TO 'accounting'@'localhost';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES
  ON frontdb.*
  TO 'front_office'@'localhost';

The proxied accounts use the mysql_no_login authentication plugin to prevent clients from using the accounts to log in directly to the MySQL server. Instead, it is expected that users who authenticate using LDAP will use the default ''@'%' proxy account. (This assumes that the mysql_no_login plugin is installed. For instructions, see Section 6.4.1.10, “No-Login Pluggable Authentication”.) For alternative methods of protecting proxied accounts against direct use, see Preventing Direct Login to Proxied Accounts.

Grant to the proxy account the PROXY privilege for each proxied account:

GRANT PROXY
  ON 'accounting'@'localhost'
  TO ''@'%';
GRANT PROXY
  ON 'front_office'@'localhost'
  TO ''@'%';

Use the mysql command-line client to connect to the MySQL server as basha.

shell> mysql --user=basha --password
Enter password: basha_password (basha LDAP password)

Authentication occurs as follows:

  1. The server authenticates the connection using the default ''@'%' proxy account, for client user basha.

  2. The matching LDAP entry is:

    uid=basha,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com,cn=accounting
  3. The matching LDAP entry has group attribute cn=accounting, so accounting becomes the authenticated user.

  4. The authenticated user differs from the client user name basha, with the result that basha is treated as a proxy for accounting, and basha assumes the privileges of the accounting account. The following query returns output as shown:

    mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER(), @@proxy_user;
    +-----------------+----------------------+--------------+
    | USER()          | CURRENT_USER()       | @@proxy_user |
    +-----------------+----------------------+--------------+
    | basha@localhost | accounting@localhost | ''@'%'       |
    +-----------------+----------------------+--------------+
    

This demonstrates that basha uses the privileges granted to the accounting MySQL account, and that proxying occurs through the default proxy user account.

Now connect as basil instead:

shell> mysql --user=basil --password
Enter password: basil_password (basil LDAP password)

The authentication process for basil is similar to that previously described for basha:

  1. The server authenticates the connection using the default ''@'%' proxy account, for client user basil.

  2. The matching LDAP entry is:

    uid=basil,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com,cn=front_office
  3. The matching LDAP entry has group attribute cn=front_office, so front_office becomes the authenticated user.

  4. The authenticated user differs from the client user name basil, with the result that basil is treated as a proxy for front_office, and basil assumes the privileges of the front_office account. The following query returns output as shown:

    mysql> SELECT USER(), CURRENT_USER(), @@proxy_user;
    +-----------------+------------------------+--------------+
    | USER()          | CURRENT_USER()         | @@proxy_user |
    +-----------------+------------------------+--------------+
    | basil@localhost | front_office@localhost | ''@'%'       |
    +-----------------+------------------------+--------------+
    

This demonstrates that basil uses the privileges granted to the front_office MySQL account, and that proxying occurs through the default proxy user account.

LDAP Authentication Group Preference and Mapping Specification

As described in LDAP Authentication with Proxying, basic LDAP authentication proxying works by the principle that the plugin uses the first group name returned by the LDAP server as the MySQL proxy user account name. This simple capability does not enable specifying any preference about which group name to use if the LDAP server returns multiple group names, or specifying any name other than the group name as the proxy user name.

As of MySQL 5.7.25, for MySQL accounts that use LDAP authentication, the authentication string can specify the following information to enable greater proxying flexibility:

  • A list of groups in preference order, such that the plugin uses the first group name in the list that matches a group returned by the LDAP server.

  • A mapping from group names to proxy user names, such that a group name when matched can provide a specified name to use as the proxy user. This provides an alternative to using the group name as the proxy user.

Consider the following MySQL proxy account definition:

CREATE USER ''@'%'
  IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_ldap_sasl
  AS '+ou=People,dc=example,dc=com#grp1=usera,grp2,grp3=userc';

The authentication string has a user DN suffix ou=People,dc=example,dc=com prefixed by the + character. Thus, as described in LDAP Authentication User DN Suffixes, the full user DN is constructed from the user DN suffix as specified, plus the client user name as the uid attribute.

The remaining part of the authentication string begins with #, which signifies the beginning of group preference and mapping information. This part of the authentication string lists group names in the order grp1, grp2, grp3. The LDAP plugin compares that list with the set of group names returned by the LDAP server, looking in list order for a match against the returned names. The plugin uses the first match, or if there is no match, authentication fails.

Suppose that the LDAP server returns groups grp3, grp2, and grp7. The LDAP plugin uses grp2 because it is the first group in the authentication string that matches, even though it is not the first group returned by the LDAP server. If the LDAP server returns grp4, grp2, and grp1, the plugin uses grp1 even though grp2 also matches. grp1 has a precedence higher than grp2 because it is listed earlier in the authentication string.

Assuming that the plugin finds a group name match, it performs mapping from that group name to the MySQL proxy user name, if there is one. For the example proxy account, mapping occurs as follows:

  • If the matching group name is grp1 or grp3, those are associated in the authentication string with user names usera and userc, respectively. The plugin uses the corresponding associated user name as the proxy user name.

  • If the matching group name is grp2, there is no associated user name in the authentication string. The plugin uses grp2 as the proxy user name.

If the LDAP server returns a group in DN format, the LDAP plugin parses the group DN to extract the group name from it.

To specify LDAP group preference and mapping information, these principles apply:

  • Begin the group preference and mapping part of the authentication string with a # prefix character.

  • The group preference and mapping specification is a list of one or more items, separated by commas. Each item has the form group_name=user_name or group_name. Items should be listed in group name preference order. For a group name selected by the plugin as a match from set of group names returned by the LDAP server, the two syntaxes differ in effect as follows:

    • For an item specified as group_name=user_name (with a user name), the group name maps to the user name, which is used as the MySQL proxy user name.

    • For an item specified as group_name (with no user name), the group name is used as the MySQL proxy user name.

  • To quote a group or user name that contains special characters such as space, surround it by double quote (") characters. For example, if an item has group and user names of my group name and my user name, it must be written in a group mapping using quotes:

    "my group name"="my user name"

    If an item has group and user names of my_group_name and my_user_name (which contain no special characters), it may but need not be written using quotes. Any of the following are valid:

    my_group_name=my_user_name
    my_group_name="my_user_name"
    "my_group_name"=my_user_name
    "my_group_name"="my_user_name"
  • To escape a character, precede it by a backslash (\). This is useful particularly to include a literal double quote or backslash, which are otherwise not included literally.

  • A user DN need not be present in the authentication string, but if present, it must precede the group preference and mapping part. A user DN can be given as a full user DN, or as a user DN suffix with a + prefix character.

6.4.1.10 No-Login Pluggable Authentication

The mysql_no_login server-side authentication plugin prevents all client connections to any account that uses it. Use cases for this plugin include:

  • Accounts that must be able to execute stored programs and views with elevated privileges without exposing those privileges to ordinary users.

  • Proxied accounts that should never permit direct login but are intended to be accessed only through proxy accounts.

The following table shows the plugin and library file names. The file name suffix might differ on your system. The file must be located in the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable.

Table 6.17 Plugin and Library Names for No-Login Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin mysql_no_login
Client-side plugin None
Library file mysql_no_login.so

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to no-login pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”. For proxy user information, see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.

Installing No-Login Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to install the no-login authentication plugin. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

The plugin library file base name is mysql_no_login. The file name suffix differs per platform (for example, .so for Unix and Unix-like systems, .dll for Windows).

To load the plugin at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains it. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=mysql_no_login.so

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

INSTALL PLUGIN mysql_no_login SONAME 'mysql_no_login.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE '%login%';
+----------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME    | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+----------------+---------------+
| mysql_no_login | ACTIVE        |
+----------------+---------------+

If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

To associate MySQL accounts with the no-login plugin, see Using No-Login Pluggable Authentication.

Uninstalling No-Login Pluggable Authentication

The method used to uninstall the no-login authentication plugin depends on how you installed it:

  • If you installed the plugin at server startup using a --plugin-load-add option, restart the server without the option.

  • If you installed the plugin at runtime using an INSTALL PLUGIN statement, it remains installed across server restarts. To uninstall it, use UNINSTALL PLUGIN:

    UNINSTALL PLUGIN mysql_no_login;
Using No-Login Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to use the no-login authentication plugin to prevent accounts from being used for connecting from MySQL client programs to the server. It is assumed that the server is running with the no-login plugin enabled, as described in Installing No-Login Pluggable Authentication.

To refer to the no-login authentication plugin in the IDENTIFIED WITH clause of a CREATE USER statement, use the name mysql_no_login.

An account that authenticates using mysql_no_login may be used as the DEFINER for stored program and view objects. If such an object definition also includes SQL SECURITY DEFINER, it executes with that account's privileges. DBAs can use this behavior to provide access to confidential or sensitive data that is exposed only through well-controlled interfaces.

The following example illustrates these principles. It defines an account that does not permit client connections, and associates with it a view that exposes only certain columns of the mysql.user system table:

CREATE DATABASE nologindb;
CREATE USER 'nologin'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
GRANT ALL ON nologindb.*
  TO 'nologin'@'localhost';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.user
  TO 'nologin'@'localhost';
CREATE DEFINER = 'nologin'@'localhost'
  SQL SECURITY DEFINER
  VIEW nologindb.myview
  AS SELECT User, Host FROM mysql.user;

To provide protected access to the view to an ordinary user, do this:

GRANT SELECT ON nologindb.myview
  TO 'ordinaryuser'@'localhost';

Now the ordinary user can use the view to access the limited information it presents:

SELECT * FROM nologindb.myview;

Attempts by the user to access columns other than those exposed by the view result in an error, as do attempts to select from the view by users not granted access to it.

Note

Because the nologin account cannot be used directly, the operations required to set up objects that it uses must be performed by root or similar account that has the privileges required to create the objects and set DEFINER values.

The mysql_no_login plugin is also useful in proxying scenarios. (For a discussion of concepts involved in proxying, see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”.) An account that authenticates using mysql_no_login may be used as a proxied user for proxy accounts:

-- create proxied account
CREATE USER 'proxied_user'@'localhost'
  IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_no_login;
-- grant privileges to proxied account
GRANT ...
  ON ...
  TO 'proxied_user'@'localhost';
-- permit proxy_user to be a proxy account for proxied account
GRANT PROXY
  ON 'proxied_user'@'localhost'
  TO 'proxy_user'@'localhost';

This enables clients to access MySQL through the proxy account (proxy_user) but not to bypass the proxy mechanism by connecting directly as the proxied user (proxied_user). A client who connects using the proxy_user account has the privileges of the proxied_user account, but proxied_user itself cannot be used to connect.

For alternative methods of protecting proxied accounts against direct use, see Preventing Direct Login to Proxied Accounts.

6.4.1.11 Socket Peer-Credential Pluggable Authentication

The server-side auth_socket authentication plugin authenticates clients that connect from the local host through the Unix socket file. The plugin uses the SO_PEERCRED socket option to obtain information about the user running the client program. Thus, the plugin can be used only on systems that support the SO_PEERCRED option, such as Linux.

The source code for this plugin can be examined as a relatively simple example demonstrating how to write a loadable authentication plugin.

The following table shows the plugin and library file names. The file must be located in the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable.

Table 6.18 Plugin and Library Names for Socket Peer-Credential Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin auth_socket
Client-side plugin None, see discussion
Library file auth_socket.so

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to socket pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Installing Socket Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to install the socket authentication plugin. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

To load the plugin at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains it. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file:

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=auth_socket.so

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement:

INSTALL PLUGIN auth_socket SONAME 'auth_socket.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE '%socket%';
+-------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+-------------+---------------+
| auth_socket | ACTIVE        |
+-------------+---------------+

If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

To associate MySQL accounts with the socket plugin, see Using Socket Pluggable Authentication.

Uninstalling Socket Pluggable Authentication

The method used to uninstall the socket authentication plugin depends on how you installed it:

  • If you installed the plugin at server startup using a --plugin-load-add option, restart the server without the option.

  • If you installed the plugin at runtime using an INSTALL PLUGIN statement, it remains installed across server restarts. To uninstall it, use UNINSTALL PLUGIN:

    UNINSTALL PLUGIN auth_socket;
Using Socket Pluggable Authentication

The socket plugin checks whether the socket user name (the operating system user name) matches the MySQL user name specified by the client program to the server. If the names do not match, the plugin checks whether the socket user name matches the name specified in the authentication_string column of the mysql.user system table row. If a match is found, the plugin permits the connection. The authentication_string value can be specified using an IDENTIFIED ...AS clause with CREATE USER or ALTER USER.

Suppose that a MySQL account is created for an operating system user named valerie who is to be authenticated by the auth_socket plugin for connections from the local host through the socket file:

CREATE USER 'valerie'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH auth_socket;

If a user on the local host with a login name of stefanie invokes mysql with the option --user=valerie to connect through the socket file, the server uses auth_socket to authenticate the client. The plugin determines that the --user option value (valerie) differs from the client user's name (stephanie) and refuses the connection. If a user named valerie tries the same thing, the plugin finds that the user name and the MySQL user name are both valerie and permits the connection. However, the plugin refuses the connection even for valerie if the connection is made using a different protocol, such as TCP/IP.

To permit both the valerie and stephanie operating system users to access MySQL through socket file connections that use the account, this can be done two ways:

  • Name both users at account-creation time, one following CREATE USER, and the other in the authentication string:

    CREATE USER 'valerie'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH auth_socket AS 'stephanie';
  • If you have already used CREATE USER to create the account for a single user, use ALTER USER to add the second user:

    CREATE USER 'valerie'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH auth_socket;
    ALTER USER 'valerie'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH auth_socket AS 'stephanie';

To access the account, both valerie and stephanie specify --user=valerie at connect time.

6.4.1.12 Test Pluggable Authentication

MySQL includes a test plugin that checks account credentials and logs success or failure to the server error log. This is a loadable plugin (not built in) and must be installed prior to use.

The test plugin source code is separate from the server source, unlike the built-in native plugin, so it can be examined as a relatively simple example demonstrating how to write a loadable authentication plugin.

Note

This plugin is intended for testing and development purposes, and is not for use in production environments or on servers that are exposed to public networks.

The following table shows the plugin and library file names. The file name suffix might differ on your system. The file must be located in the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable.

Table 6.19 Plugin and Library Names for Test Authentication

Plugin or File Plugin or File Name
Server-side plugin test_plugin_server
Client-side plugin auth_test_plugin
Library file auth_test_plugin.so

The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to test pluggable authentication:

For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

Installing Test Pluggable Authentication

This section describes how to install the test authentication plugin. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

To load the plugin at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains it. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=auth_test_plugin.so

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

INSTALL PLUGIN test_plugin_server SONAME 'auth_test_plugin.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE '%test_plugin%';
+--------------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME        | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+--------------------+---------------+
| test_plugin_server | ACTIVE        |
+--------------------+---------------+

If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

To associate MySQL accounts with the test plugin, see Using Test Pluggable Authentication.

Uninstalling Test Pluggable Authentication

The method used to uninstall the test authentication plugin depends on how you installed it:

  • If you installed the plugin at server startup using a --plugin-load-add option, restart the server without the option.

  • If you installed the plugin at runtime using an INSTALL PLUGIN statement, it remains installed across server restarts. To uninstall it, use UNINSTALL PLUGIN:

    UNINSTALL PLUGIN test_plugin_server;
Using Test Pluggable Authentication

To use the test authentication plugin, create an account and name that plugin in the IDENTIFIED WITH clause:

CREATE USER 'testuser'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED WITH test_plugin_server
BY 'testpassword';

Then provide the --user and --password options for that account when you connect to the server. For example:

shell> mysql --user=testuser --password
Enter password: testpassword

The plugin fetches the password as received from the client and compares it with the value stored in the authentication_string column of the account row in the mysql.user system table. If the two values match, the plugin returns the authentication_string value as the new effective user ID.

You can look in the server error log for a message indicating whether authentication succeeded (notice that the password is reported as the user):

[Note] Plugin test_plugin_server reported:
'successfully authenticated user testpassword'

6.4.1.13 Pluggable Authentication System Variables

These variables are unavailable unless the appropriate server-side plugin is installed:

  • authentication_ldap_sasl for system variables with names of the form authentication_ldap_sasl_xxx

  • authentication_ldap_simple for system variables with names of the form authentication_ldap_simple_xxx

Table 6.20 Authentication Plugin System Variable Summary

Name Cmd-Line Option File System Var Status Var Var Scope Dynamic
authentication_ldap_sasl_auth_method_name Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_base_dn Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_dn Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_pwd Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_ca_path Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_group_search_attr Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_group_search_filter Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_init_pool_size Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_log_status Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_max_pool_size Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_server_host Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_server_port Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_tls Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_sasl_user_search_attr Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_auth_method_name Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_bind_base_dn Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_dn Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_pwd Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_ca_path Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_group_search_attr Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_group_search_filter Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_init_pool_size Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_log_status Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_max_pool_size Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_server_host Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_server_port Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_tls Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_ldap_simple_user_search_attr Yes Yes Yes Global Yes
authentication_windows_log_level Yes Yes Yes Global No
authentication_windows_use_principal_name Yes Yes Yes Global No

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_auth_method_name

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-auth-method-name=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_auth_method_name
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value SCRAM-SHA-1

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the authentication method name. Communication between the authentication plugin and the LDAP server occurs according to this authentication method. These authentication method values are permitted:

    • SCRAM-SHA-1: Authentication uses a SASL challenge-response mechanism to ensure password security.

      The client-side authentication_ldap_sasl_client plugin communicates with the SASL server, using the password to create a challenge and obtain a SASL request buffer, then passes this buffer to the server-side authentication_ldap_sasl plugin. The client-side and server-side SASL LDAP plugins use SASL messages for secure transmission of credentials within the LDAP protocol, to avoid sending the cleartext password between the MySQL client and server.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_base_dn

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-bind-base-dn=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_base_dn
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the base distinguished name (DN). This variable can be used to limit the scope of searches by anchoring them at a certain location (the base) within the search tree.

    Suppose that members of one set of LDAP user entries each have this form:

    uid=user_name,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
    

    And that members of another set of LDAP user entries each have this form:

    uid=user_name,ou=Admin,dc=example,dc=com
    

    Then searches work like this for different base DN values:

    • If the base DN is ou=People,dc=example,dc=com: Searches find user entries only in the first set.

    • If the base DN is ou=Admin,dc=example,dc=com: Searches find user entries only in the second set.

    • If the base DN is ou=dc=example,dc=com: Searches find user entries in the first or second set.

    In general, more specific base DN values result in faster searches because they limit the search scope more.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_dn

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-bind-root-dn=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_dn
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the root distinguished name (DN). This variable is used in conjunction with authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_pwd as the credentials for authenticating to the LDAP server for the purpose of performing searches. Authentication uses either one or two LDAP bind operations, depending on whether the MySQL account names an LDAP user DN:

    • If the account does not name a user DN: authentication_ldap_sasl performs an initial LDAP binding using authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_dn and authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_pwd. (These are both empty by default, so if they are not set, the LDAP server must permit anonymous connections.) The resulting bind LDAP handle is used to search for the user DN, based on the client user name. authentication_ldap_sasl performs a second bind using the user DN and client-supplied password.

    • If the account does name a user DN: The first bind operation is unnecessary in this case. authentication_ldap_sasl performs a single bind using the user DN and client-supplied password. This is faster than if the MySQL account does not specify an LDAP user DN.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_pwd

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-bind-root-pwd=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_pwd
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the password for the root distinguished name. This variable is used in conjunction with authentication_ldap_sasl_bind_root_dn. See the description of that variable.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_ca_path

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-ca-path=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_ca_path
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the absolute path of the certificate authority file. Specify this file if it is desired that the authentication plugin perform verification of the LDAP server certificate.

    Note

    In addition to setting the authentication_ldap_sasl_ca_path variable to the file name, you must add the appropriate certificate authority certificates to the file and enable the authentication_ldap_sasl_tls system variable.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_group_search_attr

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-group-search-attr=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_group_search_attr
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value cn

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the name of the attribute that specifies group names in LDAP directory entries. If authentication_ldap_sasl_group_search_attr has its default value of cn, searches return the cn value as the group name. For example, if an LDAP entry with a uid value of user1 has a cn attribute of mygroup, searches for user1 return mygroup as the group name.

    This variable should be the empty string if you want no group or proxy authentication.

    As of MySQL 5.7.21, if the group search attribute is isMemberOf, LDAP authentication directly retrieves the user attribute isMemberOf value and assigns it as group information. If the group search attribute is not isMemberOf, LDAP authentication searches for all groups where the user is a member. (The latter is the default behavior.) This behavior is based on how LDAP group information can be stored two ways: 1) A group entry can have an attribute named memberUid or member with a value that is a user name; 2) A user entry can have an attribute named isMemberOf with values that are group names.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_group_search_filter

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-group-search-filter=value
    Introduced 5.7.21
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_group_search_filter
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value (|(&(objectClass=posixGroup)(memberUid=%s))(&(objectClass=group)(member=%s)))

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the custom group search filter.

    As of MySQL 5.7.22, the search filter value can contain {UA} and {UD} notation to represent the user name and the full user DN. For example, {UA} is replaced with a user name such as "admin", whereas {UD} is replaced with a use full DN such as "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com". The following value is the default, which supports both OpenLDAP and Active Directory:

    (|(&(objectClass=posixGroup)(memberUid={UA}))
      (&(objectClass=group)(member={UD})))

    Previously, if the group search attribute was isMemberOf or memberOf, it was treated as a user attribute that has group information. However, in some cases for the user scenario, memberOf was a simple user attribute that held no group information. For additional flexibility, an optional {GA} prefix now can be used with the group search attribute. (Previously, it was assumed that if the group search attribute is isMemberOf, it will be treated differently. Now any group attribute with a {GA} prefix is treated as a user attribute having group names.) For example, with a value of {GA}MemberOf, if the group value is the DN, the first attribute value from the group DN is returned as the group name.

    In MySQL 5.7.21, the search filter used %s notation, expanding it to the user name for OpenLDAP (&(objectClass=posixGroup)(memberUid=%s)) and to the full user DN for Active Directory (&(objectClass=group)(member=%s)).

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_init_pool_size

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-init-pool-size=#
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_init_pool_size
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 10
    Minimum Value 0
    Maximum Value 32767

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the initial size of the pool of connections to the LDAP server. Choose the value for this variable based on the average number of concurrent authentication requests to the LDAP server.

    The plugin uses authentication_ldap_sasl_init_pool_size and authentication_ldap_sasl_max_pool_size together for connection-pool management:

    • When the authentication plugin initializes, it creates authentication_ldap_sasl_init_pool_size connections, unless authentication_ldap_sasl_max_pool_size=0 to disable pooling.

    • If the plugin receives an anthentication request when there are no free connections in the current connection pool, the plugin can create a new connection, up to the maximum connection pool size given by authentication_ldap_sasl_max_pool_size.

    • If the plugin receives a request when the pool size is already at its maximum and there are no free connections, authentication fails.

    • When the plugin unloads, it closes all pooled connections.

    Changes to plugin system variable settings may have no effect on connections already in the pool. For example, modifying the LDAP server host, port, or TLS settings does not affect existing connections. However, if the original variable values were invalid and the connection pool could not be initialized, the plugin attempts to reinitialize the pool for the next LDAP request. In this case, the new system variable values are used for the reinitialization attempt.

    If authentication_ldap_sasl_max_pool_size=0 to disable pooling, each LDAP connection opened by the plugin uses the values the system variables have at that time.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_log_status

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-log-status=#
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_log_status
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 1
    Minimum Value 1
    Maximum Value 5

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the logging level for messages written to the error log. The following table shows the permitted level values and their meanings.

    Table 6.21 Log Levels for authentication_ldap_sasl_log_status

    Option Value Types of Messages Logged
    1 No messages
    2 Error messages
    3 Error and warning messages
    4 Error, warning, and information messages
    5 Same as previous level plus debugging messages from MySQL

    On the client side, messages can be logged to the standard output by setting the AUTHENTICATION_LDAP_CLIENT_LOG environment variable. The permitted and default values are the same as for authentication_ldap_sasl_log_status.

    The AUTHENTICATION_LDAP_CLIENT_LOG environment variable applies only to SASL LDAP authentication. It has no effect for simple LDAP authentication because the client plugin in that case is mysql_clear_password, which knows nothing about LDAP operations.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_max_pool_size

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-max-pool-size=#
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_max_pool_size
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 1000
    Minimum Value 0
    Maximum Value 32767

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the maximum size of the pool of connections to the LDAP server. To disable connection pooling, set this variable to 0.

    This variable is used in conjunction with authentication_ldap_sasl_init_pool_size. See the description of that variable.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_server_host

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-server-host=host_name
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_server_host
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the LDAP server host. The permitted values for this variable depend on the authentication method:

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_server_port

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-server-port=port_num
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_server_port
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 389
    Minimum Value 1
    Maximum Value 32376

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the LDAP server TCP/IP port number.

    As of MySQL 5.7.25, if the LDAP port number is configured as 636 or 3269, the plugin uses LDAPS (LDAP over SSL) instead of LDAP. (LDAPS differs from startTLS.)

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_tls

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-tls[={OFF|ON}]
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_tls
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Boolean
    Default Value OFF

    For SASL LDAP authentication, whether connections by the plugin to the LDAP server are secure. If this variable is enabled, the plugin uses TLS to connect securely to the LDAP server. If you enable this variable, you may also wish to set the authentication_ldap_sasl_ca_path variable.

    MySQL LDAP plugins support the StartTLS method, which initializes TLS on top of a plain LDAP connection. The ldaps method is deprecated and MySQL does not support it.

  • authentication_ldap_sasl_user_search_attr

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-sasl-user-search-attr=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_sasl_user_search_attr
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value uid

    For SASL LDAP authentication, the name of the attribute that specifies user names in LDAP directory entries. If a user distinguished name is not provided, the authentication plugin searches for the name using this attribute. For example, if the authentication_ldap_sasl_user_search_attr value is uid, a search for the user name user1 finds entries with a uid value of user1.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_auth_method_name

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-auth-method-name=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_auth_method_name
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value SIMPLE

    For simple LDAP authentication, the authentication method name. Communication between the authentication plugin and the LDAP server occurs according to this authentication method. These authentication method values are permitted:

    • SIMPLE: This authentication method uses either one or two LDAP bind operations, depending on whether the MySQL account names an LDAP user distinguished name. See the description of authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_dn.

    • AD-FOREST: authentication_ldap_simple searches all the domains in the Active Directory forest, performing an LDAP bind to each Active Directory domain until the user is found in some domain.

    Note

    For simple LDAP authentication, it is recommended to also set TLS parameters to require that communication with the LDAP server take place over secure connections.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_bind_base_dn

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-bind-base-dn=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_bind_base_dn
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For simple LDAP authentication, the base distinguished name (DN). This variable can be used to limit the scope of searches by anchoring them at a certain location (the base) within the search tree.

    Suppose that members of one set of LDAP user entries each have this form:

    uid=user_name,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
    

    And that members of another set of LDAP user entries each have this form:

    uid=user_name,ou=Admin,dc=example,dc=com
    

    Then searches work like this for different base DN values:

    • If the base DN is ou=People,dc=example,dc=com: Searches find user entries only in the first set.

    • If the base DN is ou=Admin,dc=example,dc=com: Searches find user entries only in the second set.

    • If the base DN is ou=dc=example,dc=com: Searches find user entries in the first or second set.

    In general, more specific base DN values result in faster searches because they limit the search scope more.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_dn

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-bind-root-dn=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_dn
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For simple LDAP authentication, the root distinguished name (DN). This variable is used in conjunction with authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_pwd as the credentials for authenticating to the LDAP server for the purpose of performing searches. Authentication uses either one or two LDAP bind operations, depending on whether the MySQL account names an LDAP user DN:

    • If the account does not name a user DN: authentication_ldap_simple performs an initial LDAP binding using authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_dn and authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_pwd. (These are both empty by default, so if they are not set, the LDAP server must permit anonymous connections.) The resulting bind LDAP handle is used to search for the user DN, based on the client user name. authentication_ldap_simple performs a second bind using the user DN and client-supplied password.

    • If the account does name a user DN: The first bind operation is unnecessary in this case. authentication_ldap_simple performs a single bind using the user DN and client-supplied password. This is faster than if the MySQL account does not specify an LDAP user DN.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_pwd

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-bind-root-pwd=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_pwd
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For simple LDAP authentication, the password for the root distinguished name. This variable is used in conjunction with authentication_ldap_simple_bind_root_dn. See the description of that variable.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_ca_path

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-ca-path=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_ca_path
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value NULL

    For simple LDAP authentication, the absolute path of the certificate authority file. Specify this file if it is desired that the authentication plugin perform verification of the LDAP server certificate.

    Note

    In addition to setting the authentication_ldap_simple_ca_path variable to the file name, you must add the appropriate certificate authority certificates to the file and enable the authentication_ldap_simple_tls system variable.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_group_search_attr

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-group-search-attr=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_group_search_attr
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value cn

    For simple LDAP authentication, the name of the attribute that specifies group names in LDAP directory entries. If authentication_ldap_simple_group_search_attr has its default value of cn, searches return the cn value as the group name. For example, if an LDAP entry with a uid value of user1 has a cn attribute of mygroup, searches for user1 return mygroup as the group name.

    As of MySQL 5.7.21, if the group search attribute is isMemberOf, LDAP authentication directly retrieves the user attribute isMemberOf value and assigns it as group information. If the group search attribute is not isMemberOf, LDAP authentication searches for all groups where the user is a member. (The latter is the default behavior.) This behavior is based on how LDAP group information can be stored two ways: 1) A group entry can have an attribute named memberUid or member with a value that is a user name; 2) A user entry can have an attribute named isMemberOf with values that are group names.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_group_search_filter

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-group-search-filter=value
    Introduced 5.7.21
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_group_search_filter
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value (|(&(objectClass=posixGroup)(memberUid=%s))(&(objectClass=group)(member=%s)))

    For simple LDAP authentication, the custom group search filter.

    As of MySQL 5.7.22, the search filter value can contain {UA} and {UD} notation to represent the user name and the full user DN. For example, {UA} is replaced with a user name such as "admin", whereas {UD} is replaced with a use full DN such as "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com". The following value is the default, which supports both OpenLDAP and Active Directory:

    (|(&(objectClass=posixGroup)(memberUid={UA}))
      (&(objectClass=group)(member={UD})))

    Previously, if the group search attribute was isMemberOf or memberOf, it was treated as a user attribute that has group information. However, in some cases for the user scenario, memberOf was a simple user attribute that held no group information. For additional flexibility, an optional {GA} prefix now can be used with the group search attribute. (Previously, it was assumed that if the group search attribute is isMemberOf, it will be treated differently. Now any group attribute with a {GA} prefix is treated as a user attribute having group names.) For example, with a value of {GA}MemberOf, if the group value is the DN, the first attribute value from the group DN is returned as the group name.

    In MySQL 5.7.21, the search filter used %s notation, expanding it to the user name for OpenLDAP (&(objectClass=posixGroup)(memberUid=%s)) and to the full user DN for Active Directory (&(objectClass=group)(member=%s)).

  • authentication_ldap_simple_init_pool_size

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-init-pool-size=#
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_init_pool_size
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 10
    Minimum Value 0
    Maximum Value 32767

    For simple LDAP authentication, the initial size of the pool of connections to the LDAP server. Choose the value for this variable based on the average number of concurrent authentication requests to the LDAP server.

    The plugin uses authentication_ldap_simple_init_pool_size and authentication_ldap_simple_max_pool_size together for connection-pool management:

    • When the authentication plugin initializes, it creates authentication_ldap_simple_init_pool_size connections, unless authentication_ldap_simple_max_pool_size=0 to disable pooling.

    • If the plugin receives an anthentication request when there are no free connections in the current connection pool, the plugin can create a new connection, up to the maximum connection pool size given by authentication_ldap_simple_max_pool_size.

    • If the plugin receives a request when the pool size is already at its maximum and there are no free connections, authentication fails.

    • When the plugin unloads, it closes all pooled connections.

    Changes to plugin system variable settings may have no effect on connections already in the pool. For example, modifying the LDAP server host, port, or TLS settings does not affect existing connections. However, if the original variable values were invalid and the connection pool could not be initialized, the plugin attempts to reinitialize the pool for the next LDAP request. In this case, the new system variable values are used for the reinitialization attempt.

    If authentication_ldap_simple_max_pool_size=0 to disable pooling, each LDAP connection opened by the plugin uses the values the system variables have at that time.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_log_status

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-log-status=#
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_log_status
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 1
    Minimum Value 1
    Maximum Value 5

    For simple LDAP authentication, the logging level for messages written to the error log. The following table shows the permitted level values and their meanings.

    Table 6.22 Log Levels for authentication_ldap_simple_log_status

    Option Value Types of Messages Logged
    1 No messages
    2 Error messages
    3 Error and warning messages
    4 Error, warning, and information messages
    5 Same as previous level plus debugging messages from MySQL

  • authentication_ldap_simple_max_pool_size

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-max-pool-size=#
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_max_pool_size
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 1000
    Minimum Value 0
    Maximum Value 32767

    For simple LDAP authentication, the maximum size of the pool of connections to the LDAP server. To disable connection pooling, set this variable to 0.

    This variable is used in conjunction with authentication_ldap_simple_init_pool_size. See the description of that variable.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_server_host

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-server-host=host_name
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_server_host
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String

    For simple LDAP authentication, the LDAP server host. The permitted values for this variable depend on the authentication method:

    • For authentication_ldap_simple_auth_method_name=SIMPLE: The LDAP server host can be a host name or IP address.

    • For authentication_ldap_simple_auth_method_name=AD-FOREST. The LDAP server host can be an Active Directory domain name. For example, for an LDAP server URL of ldap://example.mem.local:389, the server name can be mem.local.

      An Active Directory forest setup can have multiple domains (LDAP server IPs), which can be discovered using DNS. On Unix and Unix-like systems, some additional setup may be required to configure your DNS server with SRV records that specify the LDAP servers for the Active Directory domain. Suppose that your configuration has these properties:

      • The name server that provides information about Active Directory domains has IP address 10.172.166.100.

      • The LDAP servers have names ldap1.mem.local through ldap3.mem.local and IP addresses 10.172.166.101 through 10.172.166.103.

      You want the LDAP servers to be discoverable using SRV searches. For example, at the command line, a command like this should list the LDAP servers:

      host -t SRV _ldap._tcp.mem.local

      Perform the DNS configuration as follows:

      1. Add a line to /etc/resolv.conf to specify the name server that provides information about Active Directory domains:

        nameserver 10.172.166.100
      2. Configure the appropriate zone file for the name server with SRV records for the LDAP servers:

        _ldap._tcp.mem.local. 86400 IN SRV 0 100 389 ldap1.mem.local.
        _ldap._tcp.mem.local. 86400 IN SRV 0 100 389 ldap2.mem.local.
        _ldap._tcp.mem.local. 86400 IN SRV 0 100 389 ldap3.mem.local.
      3. It may also be necessary to specify the IP address for the LDAP servers in /etc/hosts if the server host cannot be resolved. For example, add lines like this to the file:

        10.172.166.101 ldap1.mem.local
        10.172.166.102 ldap2.mem.local
        10.172.166.103 ldap3.mem.local

      With the DNS configured as just described, the server-side LDAP plugin can discover the LDAP servers and will try to authenticate in all domains until authentication succeeds or there are no more servers.

      Windows needs no such settings as just described. Given the LDAP server host in the authentication_ldap_simple_server_host value, the Windows LDAP library searches all domains and attempts to authenticate.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_server_port

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-server-port=port_num
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_server_port
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Integer
    Default Value 389
    Minimum Value 1
    Maximum Value 32376

    For simple LDAP authentication, the LDAP server TCP/IP port number.

    As of MySQL 5.7.25, if the LDAP port number is configured as 636 or 3269, the plugin uses LDAPS (LDAP over SSL) instead of LDAP. (LDAPS differs from startTLS.)

  • authentication_ldap_simple_tls

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-tls[={OFF|ON}]
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_tls
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Boolean
    Default Value OFF

    For simple LDAP authentication, whether connections by the plugin to the LDAP server are secure. If this variable is enabled, the plugin uses TLS to connect securely to the LDAP server. If you enable this variable, you may also wish to set the authentication_ldap_simple_ca_path variable.

    MySQL LDAP plugins support the StartTLS method, which initializes TLS on top of a plain LDAP connection. The ldaps method is deprecated and MySQL does not support it.

  • authentication_ldap_simple_user_search_attr

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --authentication-ldap-simple-user-search-attr=value
    Introduced 5.7.19
    System Variable authentication_ldap_simple_user_search_attr
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type String
    Default Value uid

    For simple LDAP authentication, the name of the attribute that specifies user names in LDAP directory entries. If a user distinguished name is not provided, the authentication plugin searches for the name using this attribute. For example, if the authentication_ldap_simple_user_search_attr value is uid, a search for the user name user1 finds entries with a uid value of user1.

6.4.2 The Connection-Control Plugins

As of MySQL 5.7.17, MySQL Server includes a plugin library that enables administrators to introduce an increasing delay in server response to clients after a certain number of consecutive failed connection attempts. This capability provides a deterrent that slows down brute force attacks that attempt to access MySQL user accounts. The plugin library contains two plugins:

  • CONNECTION_CONTROL checks incoming connections and adds a delay to server responses as necessary. This plugin also exposes system variables that enable its operation to be configured and a status variable that provides rudimentary monitoring information.

    The CONNECTION_CONTROL plugin uses the audit plugin interface (see Section 28.2.4.8, “Writing Audit Plugins”). To collect information, it subscribes to the MYSQL_AUDIT_CONNECTION_CLASSMASK event class, and processes MYSQL_AUDIT_CONNECTION_CONNECT and MYSQL_AUDIT_CONNECTION_CHANGE_USER subevents to check whether the server should introduce a delay before responding to client connection attempts.

  • CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS implements an INFORMATION_SCHEMA table that exposes more detailed monitoring information for failed connection attempts.

The following sections provide information about connection-control plugin installation and configuration. For information about the CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS table, see Section 24.34.1, “The INFORMATION_SCHEMA CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS Table”.

6.4.2.1 Connection-Control Plugin Installation

This section describes how to install the connection-control plugins, CONNECTION_CONTROL and CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

The plugin library file base name is connection_control. The file name suffix differs per platform (for example, .so for Unix and Unix-like systems, .dll for Windows).

To load the plugins at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains them. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=connection_control.so

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugins at runtime, use these statements (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

INSTALL PLUGIN CONNECTION_CONTROL
  SONAME 'connection_control.so';
INSTALL PLUGIN CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS
  SONAME 'connection_control.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE 'connection%';
+------------------------------------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME                              | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+------------------------------------------+---------------+
| CONNECTION_CONTROL                       | ACTIVE        |
| CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS | ACTIVE        |
+------------------------------------------+---------------+

If a plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

If the plugins have been previously registered with INSTALL PLUGIN or are loaded with --plugin-load-add, you can use the --connection-control and --connection-control-failed-login-attempts options at server startup to control plugin activation. For example, to load the plugins at startup and prevent them from being removed at runtime, use these options:

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=connection_control.so
connection-control=FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT
connection-control-failed-login-attempts=FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT

If it is desired to prevent the server from running without a given connection-control plugin, use an option value of FORCE or FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT to force server startup to fail if the plugin does not initialize successfully.

Note

It is possible to install one plugin without the other, but both must be installed for full connection-control capability. In particular, installing only the CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS plugin is of little use because without the CONNECTION_CONTROL plugin to provide the data that populates the CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS table, retrievals from the table will always be empty.

Connection Delay Configuration

To enable you to configure its operation, the CONNECTION_CONTROL plugin exposes several system variables:

To entirely disable checking for failed connection attempts, set connection_control_failed_connections_threshold to zero. If connection_control_failed_connections_threshold is nonzero, the amount of delay is zero up through that many consecutive failed connection attempts. Thereafter, the amount of delay is the number of failed attempts above the threshold, multiplied by connection_control_min_connection_delay milliseconds. For example, with the default connection_control_failed_connections_threshold and connection_control_min_connection_delay values of 3 and 1000, respectively, there is no delay for the first three consecutive failed connection attempts by a client, a delay of 1000 milliseconds for the fourth failed attempt, 2000 milliseconds for the fifth failed attempt, and so on, up to the maximum delay permitted by connection_control_max_connection_delay.

You can set the CONNECTION_CONTROL system variables at server startup or runtime. Suppose that you want to permit four consecutive failed connection attempts before the server starts delaying its responses, and to increase the delay by 1500 milliseconds for each additional failure after that. To set the relevant variables at server startup, put these lines in the server my.cnf file:

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=connection_control.so
connection_control_failed_connections_threshold=4
connection_control_min_connection_delay=1500

To set the variables at runtime, use these statements:

SET GLOBAL connection_control_failed_connections_threshold = 4;
SET GLOBAL connection_control_min_connection_delay = 1500;

SET GLOBAL sets the value for the running MySQL instance. To make the change permanent, add a line in your my.cnf file, as shown previously.

The connection_control_min_connection_delay and connection_control_max_connection_delay system variables have fixed minimum and maximum values of 1000 and 2147483647, respectively. In addition, the permitted range of values of each variable also depends on the current value of the other:

Thus, to make the changes required for some configurations, you might need to set the variables in a specific order. Suppose that the current minimum and maximum delays are 1000 and 2000, and that you want to set them to 3000 and 5000. You cannot first set connection_control_min_connection_delay to 3000 because that is greater than the current connection_control_max_connection_delay value of 2000. Instead, set connection_control_max_connection_delay to 5000, then set connection_control_min_connection_delay to 3000.

Connection Failure Assessment

When the CONNECTION_CONTROL plugin is installed, it checks connection attempts and tracks whether they fail or succeed. For this purpose, a failed connection attempt is one for which the client user and host match a known MySQL account but the provided credentials are incorrect, or do not match any known account.

Failed-connection counting is based on the user/host combination for each connection attempt. Determination of the applicable user name and host name takes proxying into account and occurs as follows:

  • If the client user proxies another user, the proxying user's information is used. For example, if external_user@example.com proxies proxy_user@example.com, connection counting uses the proxying user, external_user@example.com, rather than the proxied user, proxy_user@example.com. Both external_user@example.com and proxy_user@example.com must have valid entries in the mysql.user system table and a proxy relationship between them must be defined in the mysql.proxies_priv system table (see Section 6.2.14, “Proxy Users”).

  • If the client user does not proxy another user, but does match a mysql.user entry, counting uses the CURRENT_USER() value corresponding to that entry. For example, if a user user1 connecting from a host host1.example.com matches a user1@host1.example.com entry, counting uses user1@host1.example.com. If the user matches a user1@%.example.com, user1@%.com, or user1@% entry instead, counting uses user1@%.example.com, user1@%.com, or user1@%, respectively.

For the cases just described, the connection attempt matches some mysql.user entry, and whether the request succeeds or fails depends on whether the client provides the correct authentication credentials. For example, if the client presents an incorrect password, the connection attempt fails.

If the connection attempt matches no mysql.user entry, the attempt fails. In this case, no CURRENT_USER() value is available and connection-failure counting uses the user name provided by the client and the client host as determined by the server. For example, if a client attempts to connect as user user2 from host host2.example.com, the user name part is available in the client request and the server determines the host information. The user/host combination used for counting is user2@host2.example.com.

Note

The server maintains information about which client hosts can possibly connect to the server (essentially the union of host values for mysql.user entries). If a client attempts to connect from any other host, the server rejects the attempt at an early stage of connection setup:

ERROR 1130 (HY000): Host 'host_name' is not
allowed to connect to this MySQL server

Because this type of rejection occurs so early, CONNECTION_CONTROL does not see it, and does not count it.

Connection Failure Monitoring

To monitor failed connections, use these information sources:

Assigning a value to connection_control_failed_connections_threshold at runtime resets all accumulated failed-connection counters to zero, which has these visible effects:

6.4.2.2 Connection-Control System and Status Variables

This section describes the system and status variables that the CONNECTION_CONTROL plugin provides to enable its operation to be configured and monitored.

Connection-Control System Variables

If the CONNECTION_CONTROL plugin is installed, it exposes these system variables:

Connection-Control Status Variables

If the CONNECTION_CONTROL plugin is installed, it exposes this status variable:

6.4.3 The Password Validation Plugin

The validate_password plugin serves to improve security by requiring account passwords and enabling strength testing of potential passwords. This plugin exposes a set of system variables that enable you to configure password policy.

The validate_password plugin implements these capabilities:

  • For SQL statements that assign a password supplied as a cleartext value, validate_password checks the password against the current password policy and rejects the password if it is weak (the statement returns an ER_NOT_VALID_PASSWORD error). This applies to the ALTER USER, CREATE USER, GRANT, and SET PASSWORD statements, and passwords given as arguments to the PASSWORD() and function.

  • For CREATE USER statements, validate_password requires that a password be given, and that it satisfies the password policy. This is true even if an account is locked initially because otherwise unlocking the account later would cause it to become accessible without a password that satisfies the policy.

  • validate_password implements a VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH() SQL function that assesses the strength of potential passwords. This function takes a password argument and returns an integer from 0 (weak) to 100 (strong).

Note

For statements that assign, modify, or generate account passwords (ALTER USER, CREATE USER, GRANT, and SET PASSWORD; statements that use PASSWORD(), the validate_password capabilities described here apply only to accounts that use an authentication plugin that stores credentials internally to MySQL. For accounts that use plugins that perform authentication against a credentials system external to MySQL, password management must be handled externally against that system as well. For more information about internal credentials storage, see Section 6.2.11, “Password Management”.

The preceding restriction does not apply to use of the VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH() function because it does not affect accounts directly.

Examples:

  • validate_password checks the cleartext password in the following statement. Under the default password policy, which requires passwords to be at least 8 characters long, the password is weak and the statement produces an error:

    mysql> ALTER USER USER() IDENTIFIED BY 'abc';
    ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current
    policy requirements
    
  • Passwords specified as hashed values are not checked because the original password value is not available for checking:

    mysql> ALTER USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost'
           IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password
           AS '*0D3CED9BEC10A777AEC23CCC353A8C08A633045E';
    Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)
    
  • This account-creation statement fails, even though the account is locked initially, because it does not include a password that satisfies the current password policy:

    mysql> CREATE USER 'juanita'@'localhost' ACCOUNT LOCK;
    ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current
    policy requirements
    
  • To check a password, use the VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH() function:

    mysql> SELECT VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH('weak');
    +------------------------------------+
    | VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH('weak') |
    +------------------------------------+
    |                                 25 |
    +------------------------------------+
    mysql> SELECT VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH('lessweak$_@123');
    +----------------------------------------------+
    | VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH('lessweak$_@123') |
    +----------------------------------------------+
    |                                           50 |
    +----------------------------------------------+
    mysql> SELECT VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH('N0Tweak$_@123!');
    +----------------------------------------------+
    | VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH('N0Tweak$_@123!') |
    +----------------------------------------------+
    |                                          100 |
    +----------------------------------------------+
    

To configure password checking, modify the system variables having names of the form validate_password_xxx; these are the parameters that control password policy. See Section 6.4.3.2, “Password Validation Plugin Options and Variables”.

If validate_password is not installed, the validate_password_xxx system variables are not available, passwords in statements are not checked, and the VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH() function always returns 0. For example, without the plugin installed, accounts can be assigned passwords shorter than 8 characters, or no password at all.

Assuming that validate_password is installed, it implements three levels of password checking: LOW, MEDIUM, and STRONG. The default is MEDIUM; to change this, modify the value of validate_password_policy. The policies implement increasingly strict password tests. The following descriptions refer to default parameter values, which can be modified by changing the appropriate system variables.

In addition, as of MySQL 5.7.15, validate_password supports the capability of rejecting passwords that match the user name part of the effective user account for the current session, either forward or in reverse. To provide control over this capability, validate_password exposes a validate_password_check_user_name system variable, which is enabled by default.

6.4.3.1 Password Validation Plugin Installation

This section describes how to install the validate_password password-validation plugin. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

Note

If you installed MySQL 5.7 using the MySQL Yum repository, MySQL SLES Repository, or RPM packages provided by Oracle, validate_password is enabled by default after you start your MySQL Server for the first time.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

The plugin library file base name is validate_password. The file name suffix differs per platform (for example, .so for Unix and Unix-like systems, .dll for Windows).

To load the plugin at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains it. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=validate_password.so

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement (adjust the .so suffix for your platform as necessary):

INSTALL PLUGIN validate_password SONAME 'validate_password.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the plugin to be loaded for each subsequent normal server startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE 'validate%';
+-------------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME       | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+-------------------+---------------+
| validate_password | ACTIVE        |
+-------------------+---------------+

If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

If the plugin has been previously registered with INSTALL PLUGIN or is loaded with --plugin-load-add, you can use the --validate-password option at server startup to control plugin activation. For example, to load the plugin at startup and prevent it from being removed at runtime, use these options:

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=validate_password.so
validate-password=FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT

If it is desired to prevent the server from running without the password-validation plugin, use --validate-password with a value of FORCE or FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT to force server startup to fail if the plugin does not initialize successfully.

6.4.3.2 Password Validation Plugin Options and Variables

This section describes the options, system variables, and status variables that validate_password provides to enable its operation to be configured and monitored.

Password Validation Plugin Options

To control activation of the validate_password plugin, use this option:

Password Validation Plugin System Variables

If the validate_password plugin is enabled, it exposes several system variables that enable configuration of password checking:

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'validate_password%';
+--------------------------------------+--------+
| Variable_name                        | Value  |
+--------------------------------------+--------+
| validate_password_check_user_name    | OFF    |
| validate_password_dictionary_file    |        |
| validate_password_length             | 8      |
| validate_password_mixed_case_count   | 1      |
| validate_password_number_count       | 1      |
| validate_password_policy             | MEDIUM |
| validate_password_special_char_count | 1      |
+--------------------------------------+--------+

To change how passwords are checked, you can set these system variables at server startup or at runtime. The following list describes the meaning of each variable.

  • validate_password_check_user_name

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --validate-password-check-user-name[={OFF|ON}]
    Introduced 5.7.15
    System Variable validate_password_check_user_name
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type Boolean
    Default Value OFF

    Whether validate_password compares passwords to the user name part of the effective user account for the current session and rejects them if they match. This variable is unavailable unless validate_password is installed.

    By default, validate_password_check_user_name is disabled. This variable controls user name matching independent of the value of validate_password_policy.

    When validate_password_check_user_name is enabled, it has these effects:

    • Checking occurs in all contexts for which validate_password is invoked, which includes use of statements such as ALTER USER or SET PASSWORD to change the current user's password, and invocation of functions such as PASSWORD() and VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH().

    • The user names used for comparison are taken from the values of the USER() and CURRENT_USER() functions for the current session. An implication is that a user who has sufficient privileges to set another user's password can set the password to that user's name, and cannot set that user's password to the name of the user executing the statement. For example, 'root'@'localhost' can set the password for 'jeffrey'@'localhost' to 'jeffrey', but cannot set the password to 'root.

    • Only the user name part of the USER() and CURRENT_USER() function values is used, not the host name part. If a user name is empty, no comparison occurs.

    • If a password is the same as the user name or its reverse, a match occurs and the password is rejected.

    • User-name matching is case-sensitive. The password and user name values are compared as binary strings on a byte-by-byte basis.

    • If a password matches the user name, VALIDATE_PASSWORD_STRENGTH() returns 0 regardless of how other validate_password system variables are set.

  • validate_password_dictionary_file

    Property Value
    Command-Line Format --validate-password-dictionary-file=file_name
    System Variable validate_password_dictionary_file
    Scope Global
    Dynamic Yes
    Type File name

    The path name of the dictionary file that validate_password uses for checking passwords. This variable is unavailable unless validate_password is installed.

    By default, this variable has an empty value and dictionary checks are not performed. For dictionary checks to occur, the variable value must be nonempty. If the file is named as a relative path, it is interpreted relative to