GitHub Advisoryadvisory · NuGet
GHSA-473q-m89c-ghf8 MySqlConnector: Account password disclosed to a man-in-the-middle in zero-configuration TLS mode (clear-text password sent before certificate is verified)
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Ecosystem
- NuGet
- Packages
- MySqlConnector
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-200
- Reviewed
- 2026-10-28
Affected packages
• NuGet MySqlConnector: < 2.6.1 → fixed in 2.6.1
Description
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.
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/
Related
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor weakness