MySQL 5.6 Reference Manual Including MySQL NDB Cluster 7.3-7.4 Reference Guide
SET PASSWORD [FORuser
] =password_option
password_option
: { PASSWORD('auth_string
') | OLD_PASSWORD('auth_string
') | 'hash_string
' }
The SET PASSWORD
statement
assigns a password to a MySQL user account, specified as either
a cleartext (unencrypted) or encrypted value:
'
represents a cleartext password.
auth_string
'
'
represents an encrypted password.
hash_string
'
Under some circumstances, SET
PASSWORD
may be recorded in server logs or on the
client side in a history file such as
~/.mysql_history
, which means that
cleartext passwords may be read by anyone having read access
to that information. For information about the conditions
under which this occurs for the server logs and how to control
it, see Section 6.1.2.3, “Passwords and Logging”. For similar
information about client-side logging, see
Section 4.5.1.3, “mysql Client Logging”.
SET PASSWORD
can be used with or
without a FOR
clause that explicitly names a
user account:
With a FOR
clause, the
statement sets the password for the named account, which
must exist:
user
SET PASSWORD FOR 'jeffrey'@'localhost' = password_option
;
With no FOR
clause, the
statement sets the password for the current user:
user
SET PASSWORD = password_option
;
Any client who connects to the server using a nonanonymous
account can change the password for that account. (In
particular, you can change your own password.) To see which
account the server authenticated you as, invoke the
CURRENT_USER()
function:
SELECT CURRENT_USER();
If a FOR
clause is given, the account name uses the format described in
Section 6.2.4, “Specifying Account Names”. For example:
user
SET PASSWORD FOR 'bob'@'%.example.org' = PASSWORD('auth_string
');
The host name part of the account name, if omitted, defaults to
'%'
.
Setting the password for a named account (with a
FOR
clause) requires the
UPDATE
privilege for the
mysql
system database. Setting the password
for yourself (for a nonanonymous account with no
FOR
clause) requires no special privileges.
When the read_only
system
variable is enabled, SET PASSWORD
requires the SUPER
privilege in
addition to any other required privileges.
The password can be specified in these ways:
Use the PASSWORD()
function
The PASSWORD()
argument is
the cleartext (unencrypted) password.
PASSWORD()
hashes the
password and returns the encrypted password string for
storage in the account row in the
mysql.user
system table.
The PASSWORD()
function
hashes the password using the hashing method determined by
the value of the
old_passwords
system
variable value. If SET
PASSWORD
rejects the hashed password value
returned by PASSWORD()
as not
being in the correct format, it may be necessary to change
old_passwords
to change the
hashing method. For example, if the account uses the
mysql_native_password
plugin, the
old_passwords
value must be
0:
SET old_passwords = 0;
SET PASSWORD FOR 'jeffrey'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('password
');
If the old_passwords
value
differs from that required by the authentication plugin, the
hashed password value returned by
PASSWORD()
is not acceptable
for that plugin, and attempts to set the password produce an
error. For example:
mysql>SET old_passwords = 1;
mysql>SET PASSWORD FOR 'jeffrey'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('
ERROR 1372 (HY000): Password hash should be a 41-digit hexadecimal numberpassword
');
Permitted old_passwords
values are described later in this section.
Use the OLD_PASSWORD()
function:
The
'
function argument is the cleartext (unencrypted) password.
auth_string
'OLD_PASSWORD()
hashes the
password using pre-4.1 hashing and returns the encrypted
password string for storage in the account row in the
mysql.user
system table. This hashing
method is appropriate only for accounts that use the
mysql_old_password
authentication plugin.
Use an already encrypted password string
The password is specified as a string literal. It must represent the already encrypted password value, in the hash format required by the authentication method used for the account.
The following table shows, for each password hashing method, the
permitted value of old_passwords
and which
authentication plugins use the hashing method.
Password Hashing Method | old_passwords Value | Associated Authentication Plugin |
---|---|---|
MySQL 4.1 native hashing | 0 | mysql_native_password |
Pre-4.1 (“old”) hashing | 1 | mysql_old_password |
SHA-256 hashing | 2 | sha256_password |
If you are connecting to a MySQL 4.1 or later server using a pre-4.1 client program, do not change your password without first reading Section 6.1.2.4, “Password Hashing in MySQL”. The default password hashing format changed in MySQL 4.1, and if you change your password, it might be stored using a hashing format that pre-4.1 clients cannot generate, thus preventing you from connecting to the server afterward.
For additional information about setting passwords and authentication plugins, see Section 6.2.9, “Assigning Account Passwords”, and Section 6.2.11, “Pluggable Authentication”.