MariaDB Connector/J: Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information and Insufficiently Protected Credentials

Summary

MariaDB Connector/J is used to connect applications developed in Java to MariaDB and MySQL databases. Prior to 2.7.14, 3.3.5, 3.4.3, and 3.5.9, PAM dialog authentication can be coerced into transmitting the account password over an insecure connection. The mysql_clear_password plugin is gated behind a secure transport, but the sibling PAM handler SendPamAuthPacketFactory, named dialog by the server, does not declare that requirement and inherits the default secure-required value false; older branches implement the same affected behavior in SendPamAuthPacket. A hostile or man-in-the-middle server can send an Authentication Switch Request for dialog over plain TCP, causing the driver to return the user's password in cleartext when sslMode=DISABLE and restrictedAuth=null, which is the default configuration. Properly verified TLS and local Unix sockets are not exposed to this transport vector. This issue is fixed in versions 2.7.14, 3.3.5, 3.4.3, and 3.5.9.

Timeline

1. Aug 28, 2026, 10:44 PM UTCCVE published
2. Aug 31, 2026, 6:22 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial

3. Aug 31, 2026, 6:22 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• mariadb-corporation mariadb-connector-j

  fixed in 2.7.14; From 3.0.0 · fixed in 3.3.5; From 3.4.0 · fixed in 3.4.3; From 3.5.0 · fixed in 3.5.9

• org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-clientMaven

  fixed in 2.7.14

• org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-clientMaven

  From 3.0.0 · fixed in 3.3.5

• org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-clientMaven

  From 3.4.0 · fixed in 3.4.3

• org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-clientMaven

  From 3.5.0 · fixed in 3.5.9

References 6