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Fencer Vulns
medium —

GHSA-473q-m89c-ghf8 json

MySqlConnector: Account password disclosed to a man-in-the-middle in zero-configuration TLS mode (clear-text password sent before certificate is verified)

published 2026-10-28 11 d ago modified 2026-10-28 11 d ago

cvss
—
not scored
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
—
no score, EPSS covers CVEs only
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

## Summary

With `SslMode` set to `VerifyCA` or `VerifyFull` with no configured CA certificate, an unvalidated TLS connection is treated as secure and a clear-text password can be sent before the certificate is checked. This can occur when relying on the password to validate a self-signed cert, e.g., MariaDB's [zero-configuration TLS](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/security/encryption/data-in-transit-encryption/zero-configuration-ssl).

## Impact

An attacker who can deploy a man-in-the-middle MySQL proxy presenting any self-signed certificate can capture the plaintext database password of a client that:

- uses `SslMode = VerifyCA` or `VerifyFull`, and - does not use the `SslCa` connection string option, and - uses a non-empty password.

The attacker completes the TLS handshake with its own cert, requests a clear-text password authentication scheme (`mysql_clear_password`, or forces the `caching_sha2_password`/`sha256_password` clear-text fallback), and receives the password before the fingerprint check rejects the connection, defeating the man-in-the-middle protection `VerifyFull` is expected to provide.

Not affected: a configured CA (`SslCa`), CA-validated TLS, local connections (Unix socket / loopback), or empty passwords. Using `SslMode` set to `Preferred` or `Required` is out of scope (this is documented as not authenticating the server).

## Workarounds

Provide `SslCa` with `VerifyCA`/`VerifyFull`, use a local/Unix-socket connection, or avoid clear-text authentication.

## References

- https://mariadb.org/mission-impossible-zero-configuration-ssl/

Patch / fix

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
nuget MySqlConnector
<2.6.1
2.6.1

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

References

Sources

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