Mysql failed error your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

As you might have noticed, you will be prompted to enable VALIDATE PASSWORD component while setting up password for MySQL root user. If enabled, the Validate Password component will automatically check the strength of the given password and enforce the users to set only the passwords that are secure enough. If you provide a weak password, you will encounter with an error like this — ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements.

Technically speaking, it is not actually an error. This is a built-in security mechanism that forces the users to provide only the strong passwords based on the current password policy requirements.

Let me show you an example. I log in to MySQL server as root user using command:

$ mysql -u root -p

Create a database user with a weak password:

mysql> create user 'ostechnix'@'localhost' identified by 'mypassword';

And I encounter with the following error:

ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

See? The Validate Password component doesn’t allow me to create a user with a weak password (i.e. mypassword in this case).

You will keep getting this error until the password meets the requirements of the current password policy or you disable the Validate Password component. We will see how to do it in the following section.

Fix — MySQL ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

There are three levels of password validation policy enforced when Validate Password plugin is enabled:

• LOW Length >= 8 characters.
• MEDIUM Length >= 8, numeric, mixed case, and special characters.
• STRONG Length >= 8, numeric, mixed case, special characters and dictionary file.

Based on these policy levels, you need to set an appropriate password. For example, if the password validation policy is set to Medium, you must set a password that has at least 8 characters including a number, lowercase, uppercase and special characters.

First we need to  find the current password policy level. To do so, run the following command to show Password Validation Plugin system variables:

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'validate_password%';

Sample output:

+--------------------------------------+--------+
| Variable_name                        | Value  |
+--------------------------------------+--------+
| validate_password.check_user_name    | ON     |
| validate_password.dictionary_file    |        |
| validate_password.length             | 8      |
| validate_password.mixed_case_count   | 1      |
| validate_password.number_count       | 1      |
| validate_password.policy             | MEDIUM |
| validate_password.special_char_count | 1      |
+--------------------------------------+--------+
7 rows in set (0.09 sec)

As you can see, the currently enforced password level is Medium. So our password should be 8  characters long with a number, mixed case and special characters.

I am going to set this password — Password123#@! using command:

mysql> create user 'ostechnix'@'localhost' identified by 'Password123#@!';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.36 sec)

See? It works now! So, in order to fix the «ERROR 1819 (HY000)...» error, you need to enter a password as per the current password validation policy.

Change password validation policy in MySQL

You can also solve the «ERROR 1819 (HY000)...» by setting up a lower level password policy.

To do so, run the following command from the mysql prompt:

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password.policy = 0;

Or,

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password.policy=LOW;

Then check if the password validation policy has been changed to low:

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'validate_password%';

Sample output:

+--------------------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name                        | Value |
+--------------------------------------+-------+
| validate_password.check_user_name    | ON    |
| validate_password.dictionary_file    |       |
| validate_password.length             | 8     |
| validate_password.mixed_case_count   | 1     |
| validate_password.number_count       | 1     |
| validate_password.policy             | LOW   |
| validate_password.special_char_count | 1     |
+--------------------------------------+-------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Now you can create a user with a weak password like below:

mysql> create user 'senthil'@'localhost' identified by 'password';

To revert back to MEDIUM level policy, simply run this command from mysql prompt:

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password.policy=MEDIUM;

If the password policy doesn’t change, exit from the mysql prompt and restart mysql service from your Terminal window:

$ sudo systemctl restart mysql

Now it should work.

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password.policy=LOW;

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password_policy=LOW;

Disable password validation policy

If you like to create users with weak password, simply disable the Validate Password component altogether and re-enable it back after creating the users.

Log in to the MySQL server:

$ mysql -u root -p

To temporarily disable Validate Password component, run the following command from MySQL prompt:

mysql> UNINSTALL COMPONENT "file://component_validate_password";

Create the users with any password of your choice:

mysql> create user 'kumar'@'localhost' identified by '123456';

Finally, enable Validate Password component:

mysql> INSTALL COMPONENT "file://component_validate_password";

I personally don’t recommend changing the policy to lower level or disabling password policy. Be it a database user or normal user, always use a strong password with more than 8 characters including a number, mixed case, and spacial characters.

Conclusion

In this guide, we learned about one of the common MySQL error — ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements and how to fix it in Linux. We also learned how to disable password policy to allow weak passwords in some cases. Personally I recommend you to use a strong password.

When creating a MySQL user with a relatively weak password, you might encounter the error ‘MySQL ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements’. Technically, this is not an error, but a notification that you are using a password that does not meet the recommended password policy requirements.

In other words, you are using a weak password that can easily be guessed or brute-forced. The built-in security mechanism discourages users from creating weak passwords which can render your database prone to breaches.

For example, I ran into the error when creating a user as shown

mysql> create user ‘tecmint’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘mypassword’;

It’s a no brainer that the password is extremely weak and can present a security risk.

How to Solve MySQL ERROR 1819 (HY000) in Linux

The MySQL database ships with a validate_password plugin which when enabled, enforces a password validation policy. There are 3 levels of password validation policy that are enforced by the plugin.

• LOW: Allows users to set a password of 8 or fewer characters.
• MEDIUM: Allows users to set a password of 8 or fewer characters with mixed cases and special characters.
• STRONG: Allows users to set a password that has all the attributes of a medium-level password with the inclusion of a dictionary file.

By default, the password policy is set to MEDIUM. You can confirm the password policy level, by executing the command:

$ SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'validate_password%';

If you run the command and get the output empty set, then the plugin is not enabled yet.

To enable the validate_password plugin, run the commands below.

mysql> select plugin_name, plugin_status from information_schema.plugins where plugin_name like 'validate%';
mysql> install plugin validate_password soname 'validate_password.so';

To confirm that the plugin is activated, run the command.

mysql> select plugin_name, plugin_status from information_schema.plugins where plugin_name like 'validate%';

You should get the output shown below:

To resolve the issue, you need to set the password validation policy to the lowest level. I know this sounds counterintuitive as it creates an avenue for setting weak passwords which can ultimately cause your database to be compromised by hackers.

However, if you still insist on having your way, here’s what you can do.

How to Change MySQL Password Validation Policy

To resolve the MySQL ERROR 1819 (HY000) error, set a lower password validation policy as shown.

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password_policy=LOW;
OR
mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password_policy=0;

You can thereafter confirm the password validation policy level.

$ SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'validate_password%';

Now you can proceed and assign a relatively weak password as per your wish.

mysql> create user ‘tecmint’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘mypassword’;

To revert to the ‘MEDIUM’ password policy level, simply invoke the command:

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password_policy=MEDIUM;

Conclusion

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend setting a lower level password policy for obvious reasons. Whether it’s a normal user or a database user, it’s recommended to always set a strong MySQL password with more than 8 characters with a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numeric and special characters.

This guide is for the sake of those who want to know how to navigate such an error, otherwise, setting a strong password is always recommended.

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Как вы могли заметить, вам будет предложено включить компонент «VALIDATE PASSWORD» при настройке пароля пользователя root в MySQL.

Если этот параметр включен, компонент Validate Password автоматически проверяет надежность данного пароля и заставляет пользователей устанавливать только те пароли, которые являются достаточно безопасными.

Если вы введете слабый пароль, вы увидите ошибку типа “ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements.”

Технически говоря, это на самом деле не ошибка.

Это встроенный механизм безопасности, который уведомляет пользователей о предоставлении только надежных паролей в соответствии с требованиями текущей политики.

$ mysql -u root -p

mysql> create user 'itsecforu'@'localhost' identified by 'mypassword';

ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'validate_password%';

+--------------------------------------+--------+
| Variable_name                        | Value  |
+--------------------------------------+--------+
| validate_password.check_user_name    | ON     |
| validate_password.dictionary_file    |        |
| validate_password.length             | 8      |
| validate_password.mixed_case_count   | 1      |
| validate_password.number_count       | 1      |
| validate_password.policy             | MEDIUM |
| validate_password.special_char_count | 1      |
+--------------------------------------+--------+
7 rows in set (0.09 sec)

mysql> create user 'itsecforu'@'localhost' identified by 'Password123#@!';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.36 sec)