6.4.1 Configuring MySQL to Use 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.

These options on the server side identify the certificate and key files the server uses when permitting clients to establish encrypted connections:

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

Each option names a file in PEM format. If you need to create the required certificate and key files, see Section 6.4.3, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”. 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.

MySQL servers compiled using OpenSSL can generate missing certificate and key files automatically at startup. See Section 6.4.3.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”.

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 support for encrypted connections automatically at startup:

If the server automatically enables support for encrypted connections, 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.)

The server uses the names of any automatically discovered and used certificate and key files to set the corresponding system variables (ssl_ca, ssl_cert, ssl_key).

For further control over whether clients must connect using encryption, use the require_secure_transport system variable; see Section 5.1.8, “Server System Variables”. To specify permitted encryption protocols explicitly, use the tls_version system variable; see Section 6.4.6, “Encrypted Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

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:

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:

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:

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 a MySQL server that supports encrypted connections.

Suppose that you want to connect using an account that has no special encryption requirements or was created using a CREATE USER statement that includes the REQUIRE SSL option. 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 with REQUIRE SSL, 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 additional information about the REQUIRE clause, see the discussion in Section 13.7.1.3, “CREATE USER Syntax”.

To prevent use of encryption and override other --ssl-xxx options, invoke the client program with --ssl-mode=DISABLED:

mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED

To specify permitted encryption protocols explicitly, use the --tls-version option; see Section 6.4.6, “Encrypted Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

To determine whether the current connection with the server uses encryption, check the 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:

For the mysql client, an alternative is to use the STATUS or \s command and check the SSL line:

Or: